If your elementary kid walks to/from school without you, do they have a smart watch?

[Anonymous]

This is our plan, so that we can track our kid's location and they could text us if there was any problem. I'm assuming this is what everyone does? Just curious how other people handle this transition.

[Anonymous]

Yes dam

[Anonymous]

My 5th grader walks alone. He does have a watch but he does not always bring it. I have never once checked it for this purpose. I wouldn't let my kid walk alone if I had concerns about their safety or awareness. Walk with them until they and you are confident.

[Anonymous]

Nope. I don't think it's necessary, and if I did I would get a dumb phone. I hate smart watches for kids.

My third grader walks about 3/4 mile to and from school. Through neighborhoods, lots of kids around, I'm not worried.

[Anonymous]

Mine does. She walks about a half mile to and from her bus stop and crosses a major road without a crossing guard.

She has used it for bus delays so I'm not wondering why she hasn't gotten home yet.

[Anonymous]

Our fourth grader has been walking home from the bus without a watch. It's a .2 mile walk without much interaction with traffic.

Now, she wants to walk home straight from school, which is a longer walk (a bit over half a mile) and has a lot more traffic. She apparently called an audible one afternoon and just walked home without telling anyone ahead of time. I'm fine with her walking that distance (though obviously not with her not telling anyone she's going to do it), but we're getting a watch for the longer walk.

[Anonymous]

No. Smart watches are banned from my school (LCPS). And I hear they'll be banned from neighboring districts shortly.

We have a very short walk, but I just trust that everything will be okay. I really think that giving small amounts of healthy freedom and trust to kids is what's going to help them in the long run. School would contact me within 30 min if my kids didn't show. And to play devils advocate- what happens if they are kidnapped? The watch would be turned off immediately and it would give you no information, which is just what you'd get if you didn't have it in the first place.

I think smart watches and phones for kids are unhealthy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our fourth grader has been walking home from the bus without a watch. It's a .2 mile walk without much interaction with traffic.

Now, she wants to walk home straight from school, which is a longer walk (a bit over half a mile) and has a lot more traffic. She apparently called an audible one afternoon and just walked home without telling anyone ahead of time. I'm fine with her walking that distance (though obviously not with her not telling anyone she's going to do it), but we're getting a watch for the longer walk.

Grr. I've been arguing with my elementary school to allow my 4th grader to walk home and it's about .2 miles, no streets to cross. They just tell me no nonstop.

[Anonymous]

6th grader so not elementary, but we got a flip phone not a smart anything. We can’t track it but we are confident he’d call if there was an issue. We’re not interested in tracking.

It’s been useful for bus delays.

If and when my younger kid starts walking by himself from school or bus, we’d do the same for him. Some of his friends have smart watches (in third grade) and spend way too much time on them.

[Anonymous]

We have a Gizmo for my third grader. The watch is not allowed at school but he uses it on weekends when he runs around the neighborhood with friends. It works great. On the days where my son self dismisses, he just walks home. There are lots of other kids doing the same thing so we don't worry too much. We live about .6 miles from school.

[Anonymous]

Are schools actually enforcing bans against smartwatches? My kid doesn't have one, but says that the kids keep them in school mode and at that point it's just a watch so I was surprised to bans brought up as an issue here.

[Anonymous]

Wow this is so interesting.

People on here not afraid for their kids to walk in MAGA areas yet they were afraid to send them to school because of a non existent bathroom issue.

Especially the LCPS responders. You literally live in a sea of child abusers white male christians and you are ok with your kids walking.

How about that LOL

OP a smart watch is a good idea. Teach them the emergency features.

[Anonymous]

My third grader bikes a mile without one. I did put an AirTag in his backpack so I have a vague idea where he is if he has it on. A couple times his chain slipped off and he had to walk his bike the rest of the way. He figured it out.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I'm actually surprised by the diversity of responses! Thanks for the feedback.

I think it sounds like some of you have much shorter walks through fairly suburban areas. My kid would be walking a little over a half mile through the city, and crossing two major commuting roads. We feel very confident in her street smarts and awareness at this point, but I still worry. I know I'll feel better if I can see the watch made it to school, or she can shoot me a quick text to let me know.

In MS she will likely be taking public transit on her own (well, with classmates who live in our neighborhood, they tend to ride in packs to the MS), so it feels like we need to start moving her towards that independence before elementary ends or we're going to have a hard time with that transition.

Our school doesn't allow smart watches in class (which I think is good) but a lot of kids have them and put them in pouches when they get to school and then collect them after.

[Anonymous]

Yes got one in 4th grade for this. It doesn’t work in school property though.