Don’t give kids phones, says Dame Jacqui

Ex-CHILDREn’S Laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson has urged parents to ban their sprogs from owning mobile phones before the age of ten.

‘I have many little girls writing to me, asking: “What age should I have a mobile phone?” I certainly would not give a child under the age of ten a mobile phone,’ she tells me.

‘I am very glad I don’t have a granddaughter. I would be quite strict. I have heard that many children are baffled by their grandparents’ land phones. I feel it is very significant that all the billionaires who started off all these social media things are extremely strict with their own children. Maybe they have lived and learned.’ The 73-year-old, who has a daughter, Emma, by her ex-husband Millar Wilson, has no grandchildren.

‘I think my younger self would have wanted me to have at least six children and many grandchildren,’ she adds.

‘It’s a bit late — unless I did a Madonna and adopted.’