Age for apple watch?

[Anonymous]

when she is walking alone

make sure she can text with friends on a device. No social media

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I despise them, as I've seen lots of examples of kids constantly distracted by incoming texts. This is outside of school, but I've heard from my kids that the watches are not really locked down.

We did phones in 7th for my older two, which were easy to put in a drawer, not attached to their bodies, and easy to lock down. For my youngest who will want more freedom earlier, I'm considering a flip phone in 5th grade. Then he could text me when going to friends' houses or other places

You can set downtown on it and they can’t get any texts except from who you choose. I don’t understand why people are saying it’s hard to lock down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I despise them, as I've seen lots of examples of kids constantly distracted by incoming texts. This is outside of school, but I've heard from my kids that the watches are not really locked down.

We did phones in 7th for my older two, which were easy to put in a drawer, not attached to their bodies, and easy to lock down. For my youngest who will want more freedom earlier, I'm considering a flip phone in 5th grade. Then he could text me when going to friends' houses or other places

You can set downtown on it and they can’t get any texts except from who you choose. I don’t understand why people are saying it’s hard to lock down.

I have no idea- but I know my kids played with their friends watches at school all the time in 5/6 grades when they were supposed to be locked. So I don’t know if their friends’ parents were bad at setting up screen time or what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I despise them, as I've seen lots of examples of kids constantly distracted by incoming texts. This is outside of school, but I've heard from my kids that the watches are not really locked down.

We did phones in 7th for my older two, which were easy to put in a drawer, not attached to their bodies, and easy to lock down. For my youngest who will want more freedom earlier, I'm considering a flip phone in 5th grade. Then he could text me when going to friends' houses or other places

You can set downtown on it and they can’t get any texts except from who you choose. I don’t understand why people are saying it’s hard to lock down.

The kids I coach are on theirs all the time, to the extent they can't focus on anything else. Perhaps parents could set the settings better but that's not how they're being used. And even parents seem to feel the need to check in constantly. They won't let the kids just be at the activity and be present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is in third grade and has been asking for an Apple watch. That feels very young to me but looking for a gut check.

Good grief - how is this even a question at that age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what's the best way to lock them down so they become limited to only receive and call a few numbers and no internet? My mother can't figure out her new series 11 and gave it to me, and I want my kid to be able to reach me, but I want it very basic

You buy a cheap Gizmo or Gabb watch, that's how you do it.

[Anonymous]

At that age, our oldest lost so many things. We got her an ordinary analog watch - low-cost so not a big deal if it were lost

[Anonymous]

We got my 3rd grader a gizmo watch for Christmas. There is nothing worse than watching a group of kids who should be playing standing around making avatars in their Apple Watches. Please don’t do it for the sake of your kids friend group.

[Anonymous]

The people on this thread who think iPhones are somehow not as bad as Apple Watches are out of their minds. Apple Watches make it very difficult to access social media at the best of times (videos are close to unviewable) and can be easily locked down because the workaround browsers don't work on them. Texting is possible, but a pain to do for long chains/convos. You can treat the watch like a phone in terms of putting it away at night. Basically Apple Watch >>>> iPhone for a kid.

I got my kids Gizmos for logistics in 4th grade and we will let them upgrade to Apple Watches in 6th (middle school) for the maps, Apple wallet and compatibility with non-Gizmos functions. iPhones likely in 8th so we get a year of close supervision before HS, but not 100% sure on that yet.

Thankfully, most schools are now taking watches and phones during the day.

[Anonymous]

This is OP, thanks for the feedback. My child has been reporting that several friends have them. One does have divorced parents and one an older sibling who has one (I think sibling is in 5th). I want to hold off on this as long as possible!

[Anonymous]

My kids have Fitbit ace lte. Contacts are managed from parents device.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people on this thread who think iPhones are somehow not as bad as Apple Watches are out of their minds. Apple Watches make it very difficult to access social media at the best of times (videos are close to unviewable) and can be easily locked down because the workaround browsers don't work on them. Texting is possible, but a pain to do for long chains/convos. You can treat the watch like a phone in terms of putting it away at night. Basically Apple Watch >>>> iPhone for a kid.

I got my kids Gizmos for logistics in 4th grade and we will let them upgrade to Apple Watches in 6th (middle school) for the maps, Apple wallet and compatibility with non-Gizmos functions. iPhones likely in 8th so we get a year of close supervision before HS, but not 100% sure on that yet.

Thankfully, most schools are now taking watches and phones during the day.

I hear what you are saying, but watches are easier to hide, and harder to put away. The watches also give parents a false sense of security, in that they think their kids aren't sucked into them all the time. I don't think kids should have either before middle school, (which is 7th for my kids). Once mine had phones, I turned off safari, so they did not have a way to browse the internet, but absolutely I know they will find ways to work around whatever I set up. In that way the phone definitely requires more attention from the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever age you are OK with a phone, add a couple years.

Do you mean subtract? Why would you get a watch after a phone?

I got my daughter one in 2nd grade. She wanted to go outside after school alone and I wanted a way to know where she was or for her to call in case of emergency. It's worked out very well for our family but YMMV. She is very responsible with it, never on it at school for games or texting, calls me when she needs to, never lost it, charges it every night. It costs us $20 a month which is worth it for that peace of mind. I would not have gotten it for her if she said "all my friends have one!" but rather it was for US to call or text her when needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, thanks for the feedback. My child has been reporting that several friends have them. One does have divorced parents and one an older sibling who has one (I think sibling is in 5th). I want to hold off on this as long as possible!

Why not just do an iPad he can text friends with?

[Anonymous]

Got the gizmo in 4th grade. Got an ipad in 6th grade. No phone or other watch yet.