Former BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker says he has made his children sign contracts before they are allowed to have mobile phones. The Strictly Come Dancing contestant says his children must agree - in writing - to rules around things such as which social media apps they are allowed to use, and a ban on bedtime phone use.
Speaking to The Times, the current Channel 5 news host said: "We are strict. When we got them their phones, we got them to sign up to [the contract and] we had a chat. The contract is . . . there are things we expect from you in terms of what you do with it and how you use it. If you cross the line, we will take it away for a period."
Dan, 45, has three children with wife, Sarah - Susanna, 15, Jessica, 13, and Joe, 11. His children have had phones since they started to walk home from secondary school on their own at the age of 12. He said they are not allowed to use apps such as Instagram until they are 13.
Dan said: “They were behind a lot of their friends in terms of getting the apps like Instagram, but that is what we decided to do." And he said he and his wife regularly check the children;'s phones to see what they have been doing.
He added: “We do not let them have their phones in their bedrooms. They charge them downstairs overnight.”
Writing in his new book Standing on the Shoulders: Incredible Heroes and How They Inspire Us, Dan said: “How do we best arm our kids to deal with the toxic landscape they sometimes have to live in? We need to teach our children to be resilient, to realise that it’s OK to feel stressed and anxious, that it’s normal to feel worried about an exam, a boyfriend or girlfriend, or what someone has said about you on social media.
“There is no break for this generation of children. Issues like bullying don’t stop at the school gates. It can be a non-stop, 24 hours-a-day drip-drip build-up of pressure. There can be no release and no let-up.”
Dan added: “I often get threats of violence on social media ... That is never nice. I have a family to protect and look after and I take their safety more seriously than I take my own."
