My Thoughts After Testing A Calling Watch On My 8 Year Old
We love the Movetime Family Watch, which is available at Swisscom. Read to the end of the post for a 20% off code.
The Features We Love On The Movetime Family Watch
- Geo Location in real time
- Video calling & regular calling
- Auto-positioning & manual positioning
- Class mode (quiet mode)
- Safe zone geofencing
- SOS
- counting steps, distance, calories
- App on my phone to update or change anything on her watch at any time without needing her watch
The One And Only Thing That Could Be Improved
- More color choices (we think black is a must as well as green, red and orange).
The Need For A Calling Watch
My middle child is 8 years old. She has been asking for ¨a calling watch¨ for years. Of course we were not going to get her a phone or some sort of crazy IPhone watch as she is 8, we do not have Apple phones or watches ourselves, she does not need one, and does not go anywhere. And did I mention she is only 8? So if she was getting a watch like this, it needed to be basic. So we were very excited to test the Movetime Family Watch, available at Swisscom.
Setting Up The Watch
My husband was excited to get the watch synced with our phones and get going. We can track her location on our phones (which fantastic for when she walks home a bit slower from school some days and we wonder where she is). She can call us (which is so wonderful as sports, after school activities, and playdates start happening again). We started letting the kids go for bike rides, ice creams, or playing out on the street. And that is when the fun with the watch began.
To Wear To School Or Not, That Is The Question
My daughter wears the watch on her walks to and from school and sports, but keeps it in her backpack most of the time. She does not usually wear the watch in the classroom. This is her personal choice. But to be honest, right now school is 2 hours a day, 4 days a week with 10 kids in their class. Things are different right now. But next week, in June, sports will start again and she will be a busy kid with ballet and track and field. She will once again want to have lunch at a friends house. And I am very excited for her to maybe call me to check in. And for peace of mind, I have silenced her watch during school hours, which is a super easy function to modify on my end on any time from my phone.
My 8 year old is just like my husband. They love to have the latest technology. But I have to say my daughter has only called us a few times. I went on a walk during the quarantine and my husband of course was working in his home office. So my daughter called me to pick a winner in a fight between her and her sister. I love hearing her little voice on my phone.
Switzerland Is A Wonderful Land of Free Range Children
In our neighborhood, I generalize it as Switzerland, but maybe it is just in the Zurich area, kids are SUPER independent. They walk to and from school on their own from the age of 4. I remember the first time I saw a 4 year old girl walking to school by herself. She was absolutely tiny! But then my 5 year old was for the first and last time being walked to school for her first day of kindergarten by both of her parents and her little sister. We had just moved from London to Zurich and were dropping her off for her first day of school. She did not know a stitch of the German language and off we sent her.
Kids do not have phones here. Or fancy watches. Independence in Zurich for children is absolutely priceless. I chat to my tennis pensioner friends who tell me that those memories of walking to and from school when they were growing up were the most memorable and magical times of their lives. Not carted around by their parents from one nonsense tutor to another. Not dragged from some crazy activity to another. But the kids, from age 4, walking peacefully to and from school and after school activities like tiny adults, minus the baggage. So I can see how wearing a watch that is capable of calling or tracking location could be seen as not having the childhood that they had. But, it is just a watch that calls me and I can see her location on my phone.
It will be many many years before my children will be able to enter the world of the internet, social media, and the free for all that is the world wide web. Let them be little. But let me know where she is. She wanted the watch. The watch is specifically targeted at her age group. The watch makes her happy. And since she is my middle child, I do like to know where this wild child is. My oldest is the ever over anxious one. My youngest is still undecided. But my middle child wants what she wants. And that includes randomly calling me from a lunch date after school that she has just ended up at. So, for us, on our journey, this watch is just what the doctor ordered.
Movetime Family Watch 4G connected watch with video calling
Until July 31, 2020, get 20% off this MoveTime Family Watch, available at Swisscom, with the code swisscom20. Get the inOne mobile care subscription for CHF9 per month which includes unlimited calls and SMS. In addition to unlimited SMS and phone calls, the subscription also includes 1 GB data per month plus inclusive units abroad (300 MB data + 30 min telephony).
This post was sponsored by Swisscom but all thoughts are my own. As an American goat farming daughter living in Switzerland away from all of my family, my word is the truth. It is a bit funny that I was raised on a goat farm filled with only Swiss dairy goats. And now I live amongst these gorgeous animals. I digress. And yes, the watch is awesome. You are welcome.
