Iphone for grammar school - how common

[rimjhimm100]

I wish I knew your secret Amber. Maybe its just personality, but if we let our boys have phones upstairs one of them would be constantly on it, to the wee small hours (we did try).

I would not claim to have a secret, nor to have 'cracked it'! I suppose we have always emphasised the idea of being responsible for your own behaviour - when the kids were tiny and said things like 'x made me do it' or 'he made me cross' I would say 'you can't choose what people do to you but you can choose how to react' and I said so many times that we are responsible for our own behaviour - made them apologise even if it was 'an accident' - that type of thing. So I kind of expect them to work, if they think it is important (and happily they do) and take responsibility for regulating their own interactions with the outside world, both actual and virtual. I think my view on banning phones stems from that.

But listen, sometimes I do worry that maybe too much time is being spent online, and I will say that, and we have had minor rows over it as well. I loathe social media as a potential bullying tool and have given lots of speeches, the last one just this week when a friend of one of my children received a compromising photo sent by a Y7 girl ( ) - it is not something I am comfortable with nor that I feel I have a total handle on. My kids are older than some on here so if they wanted to circumvent any rules I might try to impose, they could. I would rather have the kind of relationship with them where the rules come from within. That said, we don't have phones at the table, nor for that matter would we ever eat in front of the TV. My lot have had a somewhat unconventional upbringing in many ways so maybe that makes something seem like a secret or a mystery when actually we are just a bit weird!

So much to look forward to then! So far so good though I must say as DS is pretty well-behaved with the gadgets (touchwood) and we don't impose any rules re phone/ipad not allowed in his room etc. He is aware that he wont be 'allowed' if his homework/piano practise etc aren't finished but other than that he complies....I am sure it will all change soon! Having said that, we did have a phase where every spare minute was being spent on clash of clans! It was immediately after the exams and we attributed that behaviour to the sudden found freedom, chose to turn a blind eye for a bit (as long as school work was done) and luckily it didn't last very long.
He is using my old iPhone on a £10/month contract right now.