If you’re reading this, you’re probably going down the rabbit hole of reviews of smartwatches for kids—and enduring campaigns from your kid to get one.
This article is sponsored by Verizon.
Consider this: The Gizmo Watch 3 was Wirecutter’s top pick as the best smartwatch for kids. And if you’re a Verizon customer, it’s also the easiest option to get started with.
When asked, parents who purchased a Gizmo Watch said that the GPS tracker—the ability to know the location of the device and the child who is wearing it—plus two-way calling drove the final decision.
“We did a lot of research about what to buy because there are a number of trackers out there,” says Ray Pastore, Ph.D., professor of esports and online teaching and learning at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (and also a paid contributor to “Parenting in a Digital World”). “The one thing we liked, in addition to it being a tracker, was the two-way communication. He could call us. Many others were just trackers.”
Introducing tech to kids with smartwatches
“It’s taught him responsibility. He has to take it with him, and it’s building trust in our parent-child relationship.”
—Jessica Bonikowske, mother of three boys
Kids and technology can be tricky: Too many bells and whistles can be distracting, and if the tech is too complicated, it can be discouraging. Most kids ages 3 to 11 aren’t ready for a smartphone yet, and most kids around the age of 6 aren’t ready to text, either.
The Gizmo Watch for kids has simple calling features and messaging options that give kids in this age group the ability to stay in contact, whether there’s an emergency or just a need to feel connected at that first sleepover.
The message readout feature is good for learners with disabilities, says Clay Hadden, a speech pathologist in Charleston, South Carolina, who specializes in using tech to help kids learn how to talk. And because it looks like a device that every other kid is wearing, a kid with dyslexia doesn’t appear to need any special help while adapting to new skills.
Because the Gizmo Watch is made for kids, the conversation can start early about the age-appropriate use of tech, says Beatrice Moise, a cognitive specialist and digital parenting coach who is also the parent of two neurodivergent children. She suggests teaching kids early to ask a caregiver when they want to use the device.
That means learning to put the device on the charger when it’s not in use; setting boundaries around not making calls at inappropriate times, such as during school; and helping kids understand that it’s a beginner device: How they use it now will help determine if they’re ready for the responsibility of a smartphone.
Parental controls
“We can control things from the app; I can control if it’s going to ring or be on silent mode. We also set it to Auto Answer, so if I call him, it will buzz a few times, and it just answers, and we can listen in."
—Ray Pastore, dad and university professor
Parents and caregivers can adjust the Gizmo Watch via the GizmoHub app on their phone. You can enter up to 20 phone contacts—family members, friends and grandparents—and lock in who can call your kid. The parent app also controls the device volume as well as the brightness on the digital display to help maintain battery life. From the dashboard, parents can activate school mode or quiet mode to limit device use during the day.
Smartwatches with GPS trackers offer parents peace of mind.
“We use Find My Device all the time. It’s an essential feature,” Pastore says.
For parents who don’t have time to figure out how these things work, the Gizmo Watch 3 provides excellent GPS tracking. From the start, you can open the parent app to track your child’s location and activate the SOS calling, QuickDial and Auto Answer features. Plus, with geofencing, you can draw a border around an area where your child is permitted to go—such as a neighborhood—and get a notification when they’ve gone outside that boundary.
Pastore uses the Find My Kid and Find My Device options, too. “He comes home and takes it off in his room,” Pastore says. If his son forgets where he put it, Pastore opens the app, selects Find My Device, and the watch beeps.
How’s that decision going for you?
“My son can call us at any time,” Pastore says. “We call him; he picks it up. It’s working. We’re going to Disney in two weeks, and he’s going to wear it there in case he gets lost.”
But be prepared: That first text may not hit you like their first word or their first step did, but it’s definitely worth a screenshot.
“The first text—he sent me lots of pictures. He’s 6. He can’t type or read just yet,” Pastore says. “It was a pineapple. He probably sent 30 of them. It was many.”
Here’s to many more pineapple emojis.
