8 ways to help your child get the most from their mobile phone

We parents are all prone to being a bit hypocritical at times, and never more so than where mobile phones are concerned. We can’t live without them, but when ours kids start asking for a phone of their own, we start panicking about the risks.

The time comes, though, when we have to concede that our children do actually need a mobile. And while there’s no official age guidance, the average child gets their own phone at the age of 11 – the point at which they start secondary school, and are likely to be travelling to and from school on their own.

It’s tempting to see mobile phones as Very Bad Things, but in reality, they have benefits for tweens and teens beyond being able to customise their selfies with Snapchat filters.

So how can you help your child get the best out of their phone?

1 A library in their pocket

OK, so we know that kids spend most of their time messaging each other and Instagramming their nail art, but your child’s mobile phone can also be a useful learning aid.

Whatever their homework project, you can guarantee they’ll be able to find handy resources online, and browsing You Tube for videos about the reproductive cycle of plants is a heck of a lot more engaging than flicking through dusty textbooks for the same info.

They can also tap into online resources that their teachers have recommended: no more faffing around with crumpled handouts and illegible photocopies.

2 Parent power

Ask your child what they’ve been doing at school, and 99% of the time you’ll be met with a shrug and a surly ‘dunno.’

That’s where your mobile comes in. Most secondary schools now have an online learning system where you can find out about the topics your child is covering, so you don’t need to remain in the dark.

You can also look up podcasts and audio tutorials that tie in with the curriculum and play them to your child to support her learning.

Listening to a podcast on the key themes in To Kill a Mockingbird on the drive home from school could be the best spent 10 minutes of her day.

3 Listen and learn

Phones and tablets are blamed for all sorts of evils, including damaging children’s attention and communication abilities, but using a mobile could actually improve your child’s listening skills.

Listening to an educational broadcast and taking notes is a good way to hone her ability to pay attention to spoken information and pick out the most important parts, and it’s a skill that’ll stand her in good stead at university or at work.

Plus she can do it anywhere: on the school bus, in her bedroom or out walking the dog.

For more on audio tutorials and podcasts click here.

4 Staying organised

Our phones have become our virtual diaries, and they can be just as helpful for tweens and teens who need to keep on top of a busy school and social life.

Kids can use their phones to access school emails and the online learning system and put key dates for assignments, school trips and other activities straight into their calendar so they’re on top of where they need to be, when, and what they need.

No more excuses about missed homework deadlines …

5 Revision help

Gone are the days of highlighting key words on index cards and lugging overstuffed lever-arch files to the library for revision sessions: today’s kids can keep all their exam resources in their pocket.

A mobile phone is a handy way for kids to store and keep their revision notes, timetables and planners at their fingertips so they can fit in a bit of exam prep wherever they are.

And it means that you can be a mean parent and insist that there’s no reason why they can’t revise when they’re on holiday or away for the weekend, too: ha!

6 A social solution

We all know that despite all these educational benefits, kids use their mobiles predominantly for keeping in touch with their mates – but that too can give their learning a boost.

Social networks and forums can be invaluable for finding homework help, generating discussion about the topics kids are studying at school, comparing ideas and getting input when they’re stuck on an assignment.

So next time you’re about to have a go at your teen for mucking about on her phone when she should be doing her homework, be warned: she might actually be studying after all.

7 Staying involved

We can’t control our children’s phone use forever, but it’s a fact of life that there’s a lot of dodgy content out there, and it’s right to be concerned about what they’re looking at.

How much privacy and autonomy you give your child will depend on her age and how responsible she is, but with the very real threats of cyberbullying, sexting and internet porn, it pays to keep the conversation open when it comes to what she’s doing on her phone.

Make sure she knows how to enable privacy settings on social networks and how to report offensive content, and try to come up with a list of rules together around matters such as sharing images and using age restricted sites.

Above all, recognise that your child will use her phone to go online, and will probably make mistakes.

If you can react calmly when these things happen, she’s more likely to confide in you if she feels out of her depth.

8 And so to bed

So, phones are brilliant; they help your child learn, keep her organised and get her out of homework glitches.

But there is a downside: they’re also blamed for the rise in sleep problems among teens, with 45% saying they check their phones after going to bed, and one in 10 admitting waking up 10 or more times a night to see who’s been in touch.

Our advice: get your child to put her phone away 90 minutes before bedtime so she can unwind properly, and make her leave it downstairs overnight, or at least switch it to aeroplane mode so she’s not disturbed by overnight notifications.

Easier said than done? Hell, yeah. But if it helps your child get a good night’s sleep and wake up ready to learn, it’s worth the battle.

Honest.