Half of UK kids aged 5 to 9 now own a mobile phone

As a parent of two kids, I've had the usual conversation about how old the kids will have to be before we allow certain things. "When can they get their own phone," though, is the big one, and I expect many parents today are struggling with the same challenge. Our generation didn't grow up with mobile phones, of course, so we simply have no point of reference based on our experience. We didn't even have laptop computers in those days either; it wasn't until I was about 13 that I got my first desktop PC.

Times have changed, of course, and kids regularly use computers even in preschool these days. I'm fine with that. The earlier they learn how to type, I figure, the better.

But what about the phone? Like most parents, I'm inclined to wait -- as long as is humanly possible -- before caving in to demands from the kids for their own handsets (our oldest is 6 1/2 and she's already starting to grumble a bit).

Now comes startling word that I may be fighting a losing battle in this game. In the UK, a new survey has found that fully half of all British children between five and nine years old already have their own cell phone. And that may be pushed even younger: Handsets designed for kids as young as four years old are finally coming to the country as attitudes become more tolerant. And one writer recently expressed alarm (as do I) at the report of a three-year-old walking along with a cell phone pressed to his ear.

We live in interesting times, to say the least. Technology continues to skew younger, but researchers continue to debate, and warn against, the potential dangers that products like mobile phones may represent to young kids, whose brains continue to grow. (One new Swedish study found that children who use mobile phones may be five times as likely to develop brain caincers as those who don't.) Other doctors worry that cell phone usage among youth often injures their mental health and social development (kids texting late into the night soon become too tired to function during the day), squinting at tiny text and bright screens may also be a problem for the eyes of little ones, and there's even the worry of repetitive stress injuries caused by excessive thumb typing. Seriously, no pre-teen should be getting surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Peer pressure being what it is, it seems like a difficult problem to combat, but parents are certainly to blame as well. Many (if not most) elementary schools in the U.S. ban cell phones from classrooms completely, so children are likely learning at least some their habits from mom and dad. If the parents are busy tapping away the evening on a shiny silver gizmo, why wouldn't your child want to get in on some of that excitement, too?

The kicker is that parents' attitudes toward kids with cell phones are quickly changing. In the last year, polling shows that parents have radically lowered the age at which they deem a cell phone is appropriate for a child. And of course, they're the ones providing the hardware: Evidence indicates that most kids' first phones are hand-me-downs from adults; the rest are usually gifts.

As for me, I'm sticking with 12 years old -- at the earliest -- as the age at which our kids can get their own phone. At least, that's my plan. I also want to work out a system where they need to pay for their service, so they learn that this stuff isn't free.

How about you? When will your child get his or her own handset? And how are you coping with the whining?