Watch over kids remotely

WHAT'S the right age to give your child their first smartphone? Nowadays, that's a question most parents find themselves asking around the age of eight.

- RACHEL BERESFORD

But there's a disconnect between wanting kids to be safe and contactable at all times and wanting them to avoid the dark side of the internet.

However, on a recent trip to London with my niece and nephews, I worried that the youngest, aged nine, would get caught up in the excitement of his first trip to the English capital and wander off, head in the clouds, blissfully unaware that I was no longer with him.

And while he got his first smartphone this past Christmas, I didn't want him to have it with him while we were exploring.