Should I buy my child a smart watch?

We dive into the wearable-for-kids trend and decide whether buying a smart watch for your kids is a worthwhile investment.

It’s hard not to love smart watches.

There’s just something so cool about having the very latest in tech sitting there on your wrist, ready to buzz to life.

One minute it’s reminding you of a meeting that you totally forgot about. The next it’s telling you how much more exercise you need to do today (so you decide you better hit the gym at lunch). The next you’re using it to reply to an SMS. They can even tell you the time.

But smart watches aren’t just for grown-ups. In fact, there’s a growing market for smartwatches for children, with some surveys claiming up to 30% of purchases are for kids.

Before you think the worst, though, this isn’t just another case of overloading our kids with too much tech, too early in their life. In fact, it’s actually quite the opposite.

Giving you child a smart watch can actually reduce their screen time, help them spend more time outside, develop positive habits and – perhaps most importantly – reduce your stress levels.

Read on to find out how. 

What’s to love about smart watches?

If you’re child isn’t quite ready for their own phone, but you still want to keep in touch with them, a smart watch could be the right answer. Here’s why:

Less time for screen time

When you give your child a smartphone or tablet to play with, you’re giving them access to a seemingly endless stream of games, apps and other ways to ramp up their screen time.

But if you give your child a smart watch, things become different. There aren’t many games they can play on smartphones – that screen is just too small for a round of Fortnite or playing a game on Roblox.

Suddenly, the only thing that they can use their tech for is keeping in touch with you. 

GPS Tracking

Perhaps the best thing about smart watches is you can track your child with GPS, ensuring they’re where they’re meant to be, when they’re meant to be there. Even better, some of them even have geofencing, which will alert you when your little adventurer tries to stray out of a designated area.

Cheaper alternative

Let’s face it, smartphones can be expensive. And it only takes one drop for that high-resolution screen to shatter. Or end up in the water. So, it’s understandable if you have reservations about handing over a shiny new phone to your butter-fingered kiddo.

Smart watches, on the other hand, are a much cheaper affair. Some of them come in at a couple of hundred dollars, and even the top-of-the-line ones will cost you less than some smartphones.

Plus, because it’s strapped to your child’s wrist, there’s much less chance of it being left in a school bag, going missing or being dropped. Which also means that you can always get in touch with them when you need to. Win-win.

They’re fun!

Perhaps most importantly for kids, smart watches are just plain fun. There are apps that will get them moving and playing outdoors. Others will get them bopping along to their favourite songs or counting how many steps they’ve taken. And who doesn’t love the thought of talking into their phone like on Get Smart. Even features that we take for granted – like the watch face – will help them learn to tell the time.

Less stress for you

It’s natural to worry about what your kids are doing and where they’re doing it. With a smart watch, you can assuage your fears. You don’t even need to call your child to check up. If their watch has GPS tracking, it’s a simple as looking up their location to make sure they’re where they’re meant to be.

It’s a privilege that other generations of parents didn’t have, so why not make the most of it. Your blood pressure and stress levels will thank you!

Okay, so what are the watch outs? (pun intended)

There are some things to look out for when fitting your kid out with some wearable wrist-tech. While they’re nothing major, they are worth thinking about.

Security

Nothing’s more important than your kids’ safety, so consider going with a well-known brand like Apple or Samsung. While they can cost a little more, their security is second to none, so you can sleep a little easier knowing your child (and their data) might be a little safer.

Make sure you pick the right one.

This is isn’t so much a negative as it is a reminder. There are a whole range of smart watches out there – some of them built especially for kids, others made for all ages. While some of them are fantastic…others are not so great. Before you spend your hard-earned money, do plenty of Googling to ensure that the smart watch you’re eyeing off has the features that you want.

Ongoing costs

A smart watch can be a great low-cost option, but if your child’s smart watch requires a SIM card or has to connect to a mobile network, remember that there’s probably a monthly fee associated with making calls or sending messages. Explore the ways you can share data between your devices to manage your data more effectively.

Watch them grow

It’s only natural that you want the best for your kids, which is why we recommend you do you your research into whether or not you should aim for top of the line, like an Apple Watch Series 6 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 for example, or shoot for something simpler, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 or Apple Watch Series 3.

Either way, when you it on an Optus Plan it means you’ll be getting access to OS Fitness or Optus Sport at no extra cost, or you could even add the device to your Optus Family Mobile Plan.

Explore our range of smart watches and find the one that’s right for you, then keep your family together with the Optus Family Mobile Plan or Family Home Internet Plan.

Worried about your kid’s screen time? Then explore Optus Pause – the free feature for eligible Optus customers available in My Optus app.