DO you worry about giving your child a phone? This mum set boundaries by issuing her son with rules before handing over his mobile.

It can be tough for parents to decide when to give their kids phones.

Many worry too much screen time can be bad for children, while others fret about the dangers of the internet.

So to combat these fears, one mum decided to put some rules in place before getting her son a mobile.

What do you make of her agreement?

Mel Watts, who blogs as The Modern Mumma, thought-up a 17 rule contract for her son Ayden.

To enjoy the freedom of having a phone, the pre-teen must agree to answering all calls from his parents. Bedroom screen time, messaging before 7:30am and setting up private accounts have been banned.

The mum also clarified that trolling, bullying and sharing pictures without the consent of others is unacceptable.

Mel's 17 rule contract in full:

“1. You acknowledge that if the phone is broken of lost, you are to replace it or fix it at your own cost. We have taken the responsibility to provide you with a top of the range screen protector and cover.

"2. Always answer your parents' calls. If you can't answer, message us, call us when you can. If no contact is made, then we will look for you.

"3. Data - once you go over your data you don't get any extra until your next top up... I've supplied the app where you can see how much data you have left.

"4. No mobile phones in rooms.

"5. Mobile phone is to be given to a parent before you go to bed - at both houses.

"6. Screen times apply. No messaging before 7.30am, some people actually sleep in - strange huh?!"

"7. Follow the school's rules and policies for mobile phones.

"8. Do NOT take photos, movies of people who aren't aware. This includes strangers. Especially if someone asks you not to take an image.

"9. Do NOT upload anything on social media that you wouldn't like being uploaded about yourself or your sisters. Or you wouldn't want your grandmother or mother to see.

"10. Don't troll people on social media, if you can't say it to their face don't write it - INSTANT SOCIAL MEDIA REMOVED."

In a bid to help parents in similar situations, Mel shared a picture of the document online.

She captioned the image: Before we gave Ayden his mobile phone we wrote up an agreement that was to be agreed on by his three parents (modern day families these days lol) and then had to be signed by ALL parties.

“This piece of paper pretty much gave up the ability to put down some ground rules and also allow us to monitor what he’s doing.

“To be honest no I don’t think we should be giving our younger teenagers mobile phones with social media however I didn’t want to be that parent who wouldn’t allow it.

“I grew up with parents who didn’t allow me to have a phone and I did feel isolated and left out, it wasn’t a nice feeling.

As pictures of the initiative began circulating on social media, many praised the parent.

One responder wrote: ”Love this!! Well done to you guys as parents."

Another added: "This is amazing!! So nice seeing parents take responsibility!

"I’m a secondary school teacher and the amount of damage I see caused my phones is crazy... social media bullying and trolling, kids not sleeping or doing homework because they’re texting/phoning at all hours of the night.

"Kids don’t know how to use them safely because no one has explained it fully to them and parents don’t take responsibility of something that is hugely dangerous like actually taking it off them before they go to bed!

"Can have a huge impact on their mental heath too and it’s so sad to see!

“Well done you & all supportive parents."