Mobiles for Toddlers?

mobile phones for 4 year olds,  new mobile phones for toddlers, Firefly



A mobile phone specifically targeted at three to four-year-olds will  go on sale in Britain toward the end of 2009.

The Firefly costs £60 (without a sim card) and has just five large buttons - which include two ‘hot’ keys connecting kiddies to Mummy and Daddy.

Which begs the question.  Where exactly will Mummy or Daddy be that junior will feel the need to phone them?  It goes without saying that such a young child should be in the care of a responsible adult  24/7 and – hence – has no practical need for a phone.

Tim Dowling, writing (somewhat tongue in cheek) in The Guardian says:

• If you don't know where your four-year-old is, there's no point in ringing him. He doesn't know where he is either.
•  Four-year-olds rarely, if ever, have information to impart of such significance that it cannot wait until they are five.
•  Four-year-olds never hang up.
•  52% of children between the ages of 5 and 9 already own a mobile. Chances are you will have to buy the child a phone next year anyway, and they won't want a pink toy that doesn't do YouTube.
• For much less money you can get tiny T-shirts with your phone number and the word REWARD printed on them.
• Four-year-olds are enough trouble as it is. The last thing we want to do is give them is the means to organise.

All joking aside, we must surely ask why precisely we would want to give such a small child a phone.  Says Margaret Morrissey, of lobby group Parents Outloud:
 

'We are continually eroding childhood and making children miniature adults. 'The excuse will be that it is for the sake of safety, but in fact it's for the sake of the mobile phone company's bank balance.'

Because of fears about the potentially damaging effect on childrens’ developing brains, official government advice to parents remains that they should avoid giving mobiles to under-16s as a precaution. But other countries take a much tougher stance. France is now pushing through laws banning the sale of mobile phones to under sixes and prohibiting advertising them to children under 12.

Have YOUR Say

What do you think of the idea of selling mobiles to 3-4 year olds? Leave a comment below.