What do boys really have in their pockets ... ?

[diseyp]

My yr9 son has a birthday coming up - to be closely followed by Christmas - he wants an iphone 5 - I would struggle to provide this at £600+ and, in any case, think it is unreasonable for a child of that age - he absolutely insists that "all the boys" have them ... in order to demonstrate that this cannot be the case I have carried out my threat to post on here .. please tell me whether this is true ??

[doodles]

Two boys here (Yrs 7 & 10) who don't have iPhones.

[southbucks3]

Sweet wrappers, conkers, screwed up bits of tissue, grass, mud, perfectly round catapult stones found during the course of the week, collected up bbc gun ammo, essential letter to be signed by parents folded 8 times and about 30p

Year 8 boy...second cheapest Samsung on a tesco contract.for his birthday (£12 pm) plus he has an iPod touch.

Cheapest contract on an 5, will be about £30 - 35 a month, which I think is excessive for what is essentially 80% toy...and thankfully so does my son. He does know many friends who have them though, and this I know to be true as I recently took loads swimming and collected up all the phones before they changed, although the iPhone 4 seems v popular as an option for kids too.

When he is 15 he can get a proper part time job, until then he must learn about compromise.

[doodles]

Both of mine have Nokia Lumia 510 on PAYG from Tesco - they are Windows phones. The phones were £80 each (still think that's excessive to take to school) and they get topped up £10 a month (if nec) and Tesco triples this up to £30 which they struggle to use.

Am glad to say that for both of them phones are functional rather than status, however, DS1 certainly wouldn't say the same about rugby boots. These are a matter of huge importance and debate and research starts in about April for the September purchase

[Brum Mum]

Cheap Nokia Tesco phone here on PAYG - DS would love an iPhone (we do have a couple of old ones knocking around) - but I think he's too young.

[sbarnes]

DS had iPhone 4 (my cast off!!) on first day at new school; told him to be discreet about it as many may not have a flashy phone. How wrong was I. His iPhone 4 was the oldest phone there.
He now has my iPhone 5 which I got as a free upgrade. I don't think there is any name calling because one has an old phone or not in his class. Its whatever suits the pocket at the end of the day.

[scary mum]

Ours have cast off 3G iPhones or refurb iPhone 4 (the older ones) with giffgaff sims.

[KS10]

Cheapest phone from Tesco here too. When DS got his, it was £20, but a year later it was just £10 for DD. DS has asked for my old BlackBerry, but I've said no. OH might need it when his conks out plus DS is not great at looking after his stuff.

[Amber]

Another 'no' here, though two of my children would very much love to get their hands on an iPhone. We have said no till they are sixteen. This decision is subjected to regular challenge but we have stood firm so far. The one who is over sixteen already has absolutely no interest in material possessions and still has one of the very cheapest phones on the market.

Very much agree with your remark about compromise sb3.

[aliportico]

My 13 year old has a knackered old flip phone that he never ever uses and so far hasn't asked for anything else, although sometimes he tells me what other people have (and yes, there are iphone 5's in his y8 class). He does have a Nexus 7 (that he bought himself).

Last year for Christmas dd3 (then ten) wanted an ipod and I got her an ipod 4th gen on EBay for about £70.