L already has a few friends with phones and he is only 10! so it is something we've had to think about a lot sooner than we hoped. We wont let the kids have their own phone till they are old enough to get a job and pay for it themselves - and only then a prepaid phone. We take the view that we survived our teenage years with only a landline phone to stay in contact with the world and I think it's important that they are able to 'disconnect' from life a little at times kwim? I see young teens who are on the phone all the time and they don't have any downtime away from their friends these days.

I really like MP's idea about the pocket money though if you can afford to do that