Stephen Lewis looks at the growing phenomenon of mobile phone-carrying children

BT Cellnet has surely missed a trick by scrapping its £5 mobile phone vouchers.

Because if there's one thing in this world that's a racing cert, it's that more and more kids will be signing up to the mobile phone revolution.

It was only last year that mobile phones first made their way on to the list of things kids most like to spend their pocket money on, in the 2000 Wall's Pocket Money Monitor. Since then the march of the mobile phone has continued apace.

There's no doubt that as youngsters grow ever more sophisticated, being seen with a mobile is cool. And text messages could have been custom designed for kids and young teens who want to communicate in a language their parents won't understand.

Take the Daniels family, of Barstow Avenue, York. Four of the Daniels children - Stephen, 14, Sarah, 13, Samantha, 11 and St John, eight - received their own mobile phones for Christmas: and mum Carol admits they wouldn't be without them now.

The children use them for text-messaging their friends - but also for phoning for their parents to pick them up if they have to be out late. Carol, who has her own mobile, says she feels much safer knowing they can always get in touch. "My eldest daughter goes to drama school in Fulford on Monday night and she doesn't leave until 9pm," she said. "It means she can phone so we can pick her up." Carol, a lollipop lady, says she sees more and more children walking home with mobile phones - and has no doubt they will continue to become increasingly popular.

At Robert Wilkinson Primary School in Strensall, 14 out of 76 pupils in Year 6 have their own mobiles - and even some younger children.

Headteacher Peter Feasby says he can understand why some parents want their children to have mobiles. "I can see why parents might feel secure," he admits. "They can get in touch if there is any problem. That is a positive aspect."

But he does regret the 'loss of childhood' that mobile phones are a part of. "Children spend their pocket money on more grown-up things these days. It's not toys any more, it's CDs, clothes, even make-up. They're trying to appear more grown-up. It is a shame." Mobile phone-owning youngsters at Robert Wilkinson, however, probably wouldn't see it that way.

While most say the reason they have their mobiles is for 'emergencies' to contact their parents, some admit they use them just because they're fun, for text-messaging or talking to their friends. Whichever way they use them, it seems most parents retain ultimate control - it's the parents who pay the bills, not the children themselves out of their pocket money.

Amy Jones, aged ten, uses her mobile for talking to friends, especially at weekends and after school. So does eleven-year-old Daniel Myerscough. Daniel - who admits that strictly speaking he shares his mobile with younger brother Adam - says he enjoys sending text messages just for fun. He's into text message abbreviations because they're shorter, though his favourite message was one he got from his cousin. "It said 'Wazzup? How ya doin?'," he says proudly.

Samantha Lyon, 11, uses hers just for emergencies. "It's so I can ring my mum up," she says. And 11-year-old Josh Mann's is also mainly for calling his parents so they can pick him up.

A BT Cellnet spokeswoman today insisted that they didn't directly market their phones at children - although she admitted they were very popular with under 16s. But scrapping the £5 voucher did not disadvantage anyone, she insisted, as the cost of calls was unchanged. The growth of mobile phone use, and text-messaging in particular, was phenomenal, she added. In November last year, on BT Cellnet in the UK alone, 150 million text messages were sent.

Any bets how many of those were from one child to another asking "Wazzup! How ya doin?"