Pink on why she won't let her 10-year-old have a phone
Most parents will have had the row with their kids about what age they are allowed a phone.
But pop star Pink has laid down the law and won't let 10-year-old daughter Willow have one.
And the Grammy-winning superstar says she is determined not to back down - no matter what her child says.
“There’s a light side and a shadow side to technology in general for adults, as well,” she told TODAY’s Carson Daly.
“For kids, I’m not there yet. I have a 10-year-old who does not have a phone, although she pointed out to me yesterday, ‘You know most of the kids in my class, fifth grade, have a phone.’ That doesn’t move my needle. I don’t care.”
Pink, who is also mum to son Jameson, five, says she’s not entirely against technology when it comes to her kids.
“We can’t be dinosaurs ourselves as parents, we have to sort of embrace it and go with it,” she said.
And the So What singer has proved that by collaborating with the meditation and wellness app Calm, recording a trio of bedtime stories.
Watch now: Pink struggles to relate to her 'introverted' daughter
Pink says working with Calm was a natural fit.
“I’ve been using Calm for years and that’s how I fall asleep, so when I heard they were doing a Calm Kids, I was like, ‘I want to do that. I want to read stories to kids,’” she said. “And so I tested out my stories on Jameson and he requests them now.”
Read more: Britain's most searched for bedtime stories revealed
Pink is in good company on the app - other celebs including Leona Lewis and Kate Winslet have also recorded their own bedtime stories.
Pink says this use of technology serves a necessary function for kids.
“If you want to listen to a story at night that fires your imagination gets you in your body and helps you drift off to sleep while not being afraid of the dark, well, not feeling alone, great,” she said.
“One hundred percent, I’m all about it.”
At what age should children be allowed a phone?
All smart phone users are well aware of how quickly they dominate our lives and how dependent we become on them. Like Pink says, that's not an addiction most parents wish to pass on to their children. But when every other child in their classroom has a phone, you also don't want to risk your child being teased not being allowed one.
According to a 2020 study, most children in the UK own a phone by the age of seven. The same study found that by the age of 11, a whopping 90% of children owned their own device. Of the 2,167 UK five- to 16-year-olds polled,
