First Phone Handover Checklist
Every setting to change and every conversation to have before handing over a first phone — in the order that matters.
Of sixteen handover steps, the most consequential is not a setting but a sentence — that a child can come to you about anything online without losing the phone — because expected confiscation is why children do not report.
First Phone Handover Checklist
Frequently asked
What age should a child get a phone?
There is no established right age and practice differs enormously between countries and schools. What is more useful than an age is whether the setup and the conversations above have happened, and whether the child needs it for something specific.
Do parental controls work?
They reduce accidental exposure effectively and determined circumvention less so, and their effectiveness declines sharply with age. They buy time for the conversations rather than replacing them.
Should I take the phone away as a punishment?
For phone-related behaviour it is coherent. As a general sanction it has a specific cost: children who expect confiscation report frightening things later or not at all, and that trade is rarely worth it.
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