Mama Parenting #2 Giving My Girl a Smartphone

I got my girl a smartphone last year as I was changing my phone plan to get more internet data and the offer was so fantastic, the service provider gives me a free smartphone for being a loyal customer. So, I gave my three months old smartphone to my girl. I know there are arguments against giving kids smartphones. However in my opinion, I have done the right thing to give it to her.

1. Homework

My girl said that she need to discuss with her friend on homework assignment. They have this Whatapps group where they can discuss and help each other on subject that they had been assigned to do. She also said that the smartphone is, in fact, very helpful for her to manage her homework. For example, if she needs more clarification on Maths exercises, she can go to Youtube on Maths tutorial. Furthermore smartphone has apps for dictionaries and learning games, calculators, reading apps like Moonreader.

2. Location

Sometime it’s very troublesome for us, and annoying for our kids, us calling and checking on them and have to ask, “Where are you?” every single day. Google store offers location apps like Foursquare or Google Latitude that allows us and our kids to both know one another’s location at all times. This service is free and you need to set up and turn on the ‘location’ icon for both you and your kid’s smartphone.

3. Video and Photos

My girl told me that her new school management every now and then, change her class timetable. Her teacher usually inform and send photo of the class new timetable by Whatapps group that they have. Smartphone awesome bundle freebies give us the advantage to take and send as many photos and videos we want. This will able me to share live video calling to my girl whenever I go for outstation.

4. Navigation

There are occasions that our kids wind up where they aren’t supposed to be despite our best and endless lecturing and worrying. I have not encountered any situation like this, hopefully never, but knowing that your child has access to instant GPS walking navigation provides tremendous peace of mind.

5. Motivation

This might be cruel to hear but my girl cares more about her smartphone than any pet she ever have. In this way I can be pretty sure the phone won’t be lost or broken... LOL. If in case the smartphone, get loss or broken, this will motivate her to do chores, get good grades and generally grow a halo as she need us to buy a new one or send to service center.

Once we decide our kids is responsible, you need to think about whether they can handle a device that automatically connects them to the world. Although, some might say that it’s too early for them to do so, with the arguments above, our family benefits win. However, every now and then, I still need to check on her smartphone just like an ‘antivirus’ does. I know it’s against my girl’s rights but, hey she still under the surveillance of the mama and the papa.