Watch Me From Afar
I don't know if this is a good idea or a bad idea, but the decision has been made and this is what we have. In Finland, when kids start school, it is generally when they get their first phone, with many getting some form of smart phone that they carry with them. However, in recent years, wearables have become more accessible and there is now a range for children that they can use, without having full reign over their activity.
With Smallsteps now heading to school and will soon be walking by herself, we went with a wearable that she will get for her birthday tomorrow. It is kind of handy to have her birthday at the start of the school year, because then we can pass-off needs as presents. The one we got is the Xplora X6 play which has various features with a camera, but no video calling. It also doesn't have VoIP calling.
It does have texting and voice calls to pre-approved numbers, all of which are logged and monitored through an app that guardians have on their phone. She has a couple friends and I want them to be able to communicate together and set up playdates for themselves. It allows up to 50 numbers and all communication is tracked by parents, which is fine I think for a kid of her age, though as she grows we will withdraw monitoring her.
There is also a GPS tracker so that we can know where she is to some degree of accuracy, and the battery life is around about three days, which isn't too bad for a kids watch. Though, it isn't the slimmest thing in the world.
Smallsteps has grownup with a relatively analogue life, so it is going to be interesting to see if this changes her behavior in any way. What I am hoping is that it just becomes a short-lived novelty and then is used more for the step counter it has, as well as sending the odd message to some of the family. I am not yet sure what the costs of texting Australia are yet, but the odd one shouldn't make much of a difference to the bill and I think she will be pretty stoked to get a message from uncle @galenkp.
With all the various benefits, I believe there are a lot of drawbacks to this kind of tech, including the tracing from third parties. At some point, unless living completely off the grid, there is an inevitability to all of this. Life is so intertwined with technology that it is unavoidable, so it comes down to building behaviors that mitigate the risks, without going insane. This means that throughout this early phase, there is a chance to influence the future activity too.
But, I have plenty of reservations about these kinds of tech and most of it is about how it influences our behavior to not plan as well, and encourages instant gratification. For her though, there will be no games on the watch and we will have discussions on how she uses it as we go forward. There are also school modes for it to take away functionality between certain times, so that it doesn't become a distraction.
So, tomorrow Smallsteps takes her first real steps into a "smart" world and I am really hoping that she is smart enough that it doesn't make her stupid. So many kids I meet these days are so dull, because they spend all of their time staring at screens, none of their time in their imagination.
And perhaps the biggest risk for all of these devices lays on the behavior of the parents, with many starting to rely on them to entertain their child, rather than the parent "having" to spend time with them instead. We can't complain about the behavior of our kids, if we haven't supported them to behave differently. After all, they are products of their environments, just like us.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
It's really going to be a good birthday present for her which she would appreciate but it shouldn't let her get carried away it much.
I think she will be okay with it, after the initial novelty wears thin.
My son went the first 2 years of school without a smartphone. He had a wristwatch for communication. Thanks to this watch, we were also able to listen to what is happening next to it.
So it was active all of the time?
Yes, at school breaks he did not look at the smartphone screen.
miserly or what? 😂
Shhhh - she will read all of this one day - don't point it out! ;D
A kids' school desk! ;D
😍
As a parent you take care of your daughter and also wants to fulfill her desires. The way you think, I like the most.
At first, Advance Happy birthday to smallsteps. Who knows If I forgot to make birthday wish tomorrow. So saying in advance.
I think a little change can happen for a little time but after a certain time the interest will decrease automatically if i don't predict wrong.
Disadvantages comes with advantages and we can't avoid it. But I believe that advantages of the device is more compared to disadvantages. So I don't think negative in this case.
It will be interesting to see if her habits change in any way.
A nice gift that will not only look good on the little princess, but will also meet her communication and control needs. On this last point, the control should be measured, so that it does not cause pressure on the little girl, and she feels that she is being monitored, hence, when she receives the gift, she should be informed of the reasons why mum and dad are keeping her in line. Children grow up, and with them come responsibilities and personal rights. Here in Canada, children's privacy is a priority, and there are rules that condition control over children and their rights. In order for my son to wear a GPS bracelet, I had to state my reasons, one of which was Matthew's autistic appearance.
It will be a wonderful party, I hope his closest friends will join him and enjoy themselves… Remember to save me a slice of cake, heh, heh. Blessings.
It is less of a priority here, but I think that in general, Finnish culture protects a lot too, as it is still in that phase where there isn't close to the crazy that is present in some cultures. She had a step-counter watch earlier and loved it -kids rack up far more steps than adults!
Is this a particular device, or one of these watches?
Will do. There might be plenty left over as for the first time ever, we ordered a cake to be made for about twenty people and now, many might be ill and unable to join.
Ooh that is very nice
She will actually appreciate that as her birthday gift. It is even a good suggestion and those phones can even help those kids to learn.
It can help them to reach their parents during emergencies too
Kudos!!!
I am hoping she will become a bit more independent from us, whilst still feeling we are reachable.
I think I did not get a phone until much later. But my school was literally a few steps away from where we lived.
I was one of the first with a phone in my school, a hand-me-down one. I was 16.
Happy Birthday SmallSteps!
:)
Damn they grow fast. Well in age in this case - not in height.
She doesn't want to literally outgrow her Hive handle.
I'll text her for sure, don't blame me if she racks up €50 of texts in a day! 🫣
It's not a bad idea, when you get her set up send the number and I'll send her a birthday text tomorrow, (today my time).
We'll video chat for her birthday too, it'll be good to see her and we can talk about he first days at school.
Yep. We will have the family come a bit later.
You are already added to the contact list. Will send the number later.
I've got her number programmed in now too. Epic!
You and Galenkp related I'm assuming 😂😂
:D
We know of each other.
What age are we talking about, there are already many studies that this technology causes serious damage to children, I am glad that you are taking many precautions in this regard more in these times.
greetings
Turning 7.
watch out for addiction.
I am always on the lookout.
I think that this is a great gift. Wise, useful and at the same time, safe.
When I was a kid, few years more than SmallSteps now, my parents gifted me a facsimile of a laptop. There I could learn to write effectively with the keyboard, create some docs, organizing logical paths and having some drawing tools as well as a scientific calculator that got me passionate about numbers.
Sometimes I wonder if it is chicken or the egg - perhaps it facilitated an already number-minded child :) I have been trying to get Smallsteps into numbers (successfully so far) because it is not a strong skill in my family and having that foundation would have helped.
What do you think Smallsteps reaction will be to all this? Is she aware of all this new tech stuff or is it just another new toy to her?
Since there's no games, hopefully she won't spend too much time staring at the little screen. And early happy birthday to the little one!
I think it is more of a new toy really, but she is aware, as her friends have watches and some phones too.
It is not the easiest to type on for my sausage fingers!
Should be a nice day at least :)
A necessary step as she goes out into the world of today! I didn't know that these were available and I like this idea so much better than giving a child a mobile device.
Me too. They started becoming more of a thing a couple years ago, but there are more features now. I just want to make sure that she is able to call someone if she needs, even if it is to the emergency number.
I believe having this will give her confidence to venture into new situations. She will know that she can reach out for help if it is ever needed.
Wishing happy birthday to little smallsteps. I wish she always make you proud. I am wishing in advance. It's really a nice gift for her.
Feels like a black mirror episode haha. It's an interesting subject but, I would say, instant gratification is here to stay and I think it's better to have a little exposure with guidance so the child starts to know how to handle it in a proper way from early age rather than being completely protected from it because there will be a time when it will be unavoidable and if they don't have the tools to deal with it from the start, it might take them off guard.
I have heard some schools have meditation programs, mindfulness and all. I wonder of those really work on children.
We are already living in most of the black mirror episodes! :D
Yay! hahaha we can now hunt for references
I believe it is a cool idea to introduce her to the "mobile world" with a "restricted" device considering her age. Tech goes very fast and these devices have become the communication tool for everyone. We waited till our son was 12 to get him a functional cellphone, he joined the secondary school, and the very first day we realized not giving him a cell phone was isolating him from the rest of his classmates. One of the teachers asked the class how many students didn't have a cellphone and there were only 3 out of 25, so we just went for it. I understand we as parents have to move forward with their generation's needs and not ours but I was very reluctant to give a 12-year-old kid a €200 device, in the end, we tried to teach him to value the equipment and be careful with it but did not want to leave him out of his friends' circle.
We are trying not to cave into peer pressure or what the other kids have here. Many have phones, some have these watches. It is a bit of a compromise for us. I don't want her to need a tool to entertain her, and instead I want her to spend her time as she does now - running, jumping and playing. Too many kids i see these days are stuck in front of a screen from daycare ages.
I think it is a good idea. How come presenting a smartphone to a child who has just started primary school. It is kinda shooting in the foot.
Technology came to improve our lives, but in children we must be very tactful. It can be very harmful, it limits their social development, causes induced autism, among others.
That's very interesting. My kids are 10 and 7 now and I've been mulling over the question of a smart watch for awhile now. My oldest has been begging for a smart phone for years (all the other kids have one, as he constantly reminds me) but I have held out for various reasons (like the ones you mention above), but at the same time I would like a way for them to call me or their mother if there is an emergency and a way for us to see where they are.
A few days ago one of their cousins in the US accidentally got on the wrong school bus. The driver only discovered this at the end of his route a few hours later. Unfortunately he was scared and couldn't remember his parent's phone number. Not knowing what to do, the driver dropped him off at the high school. Luckily one of the teachers there recognized him and was able to look up his parents number. All in all he didn't get home until 9pm at night. His parents had already called the police and were worried sick.
While our kids don't take a bus—in Japan, kids have to walk to school in groups regardless of how long it is with PTA members stationed every few blocks to watch them—there is always the possibility that something similar could happen here. Hmmm... the watch you post about looks very interesting.
Anyway, hope it works well for you guys and your daughter!
So far so good with the watch and I think that she likes that she is able to call to her grandparents and she feels special when they call her too.
That is scary with the cousin, and I suspect that my daughter would be similar and not say anything until it is too late - just cry in the corner.
Is this a cultural thing?
I think there are a few purposes to it. My suspicion is that it's primarily intended to promote reliance on the group. The younger first and second graders don't know the way and are scared to be away from their parents, so they have to rely on the older kids especially and the group of kids in general. Then as they grow, they take more of a leadership role in the group and that gives them confidence. I think it is also a way to control parents to some degree. PTA membership is mandatory and the parents will be required to be stationed along the route to school to watch the kids and make sure they are safe at least a couple times a year, rotating with the other parents.
But I don't know for sure, as no one I talk to has ever been able to give me a reason beyond "That's how it's always been". These are just my ideas having watched how the culture works for the past 20 years and studying the history of the country.
I would have loathed something like this as a child. I loved being free from my parents and doing things on my own. Knowing they could track my location at any time and monitor my convos would drive me nuts. I really enjoyed my independence when I was young and didn't mind being out of communication at all.
I hope the new tech is a success for your family.
I would have hated it too! At the same time though, when I was a kid, there were far less freaks out there, and much less violence. So far, we haven't checked on her location at all and I assume that we won't unless we have reason to. She isn't exactly free-range, but we trust her a lot and let her take responsibility for a lot of her life.
Yall are some kick-ass parents!