To think primary kids shouldn't have smart watches

Thats the point though. Tracking isn't a substitute for trust. If you trust them, you shouldn't need to ttsack them.

I don’t think it’s good. Or bad really. It’s more like wow I ran so much in tennis today and compares with her mate in the class that has a fitbit thing or she’ll say my heart rate went really high when I was skiing that red. It’s not something she looks at a lot, so definitely not ‘monitoring’ it- that would be super weird for a kid. In fact she doesn’t even wear the watch most days and we usually have to ask her to put it on if we’re nipping to the shops and she doesn’t want to come with. Mostly I just want a way for her to make calls in an emergency but she’s way too young for a phone so it seemed like the best solution with the added benefit she can have some music and we can track her if needed, although right now she’s too young to really go anywhere on her own so I’ve only ever used it to see where the ski school group is at.

They were banned at the kids' primary school and are also banned at their high school. If it can receive messages / calls, it's not allowed.

My daughter has a watch as she walks home from school by herself/ is occasionally left at home for short periods. Shes in year 5 (middle school). The watch has a school mode setting and “sleep settings” so it only works as a watch during school time. And it turns off at 7pm. It’s pretty much forgotten about the minute she gets home and takes it off.

That would be scary, but it's always on him and he calls me to keep me updated on his movements.

If your kid isn't ready to play out unsupervised then no tech in the world will help. You have to know your kid and your surroundings

YANBU. Way too young.

You know his watch is where its supposed to be. Not him.

As a group of parents near me found out... they were leaving their phones at the park when going elsewhere to play.

Which one is this?

No they definitely don’t need a smart watch. Get them a regular watch so they can learn to tell the time properly.

DS just turned 9. He's got one, but it's in school mode during school hours. It doesn't do anything besides tell the time while it's in that mode.
He walks to nursery from school and I pick both kids up from there. It means he can reach me, if there's an issue.
My ex bought it for him initially, so he could call him without having to go through me. It's not quite worked out that way.

A 9 year old monitoring how many steps they’re doing isn’t the good thing you think it is. It’s sowing the seeds of body image being distorted - they just need a healthy amount of any exercise which they’re doing for fun!

It's this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ucani-Tracker-Position-Pedometer-Birthday/dp/B0F5WH57MQ

He doesn't fiddle with it excessively. Re your comment on tracking - my 9 year old is old enough to play out unsupervised but I like to see where he is. He's only ever in the places he's allowed to be, so I feel reassured.

The phone bit is more useful than the tracking bit really - he rings me and asks if he's allowed to stay out, or can he leave the park and go to the fields etc

He's barely wearing it these days but once the weather starts getting better he will again. It's been a great tool for encouraging him to play outdoors more.

I feel a smart watch contributed to my child’s eating disorder. The constant need ‘to close rings’ by the end of the of the day, we binned them and they’ve never been missed

I delayed getting my child a phone by getting them a smart watch. They weren’t distracted by it much at all. ‘School time’ enabled so functioned just as a watch for set hours. It enabled them to call in an emergency or receive calls from set numbers. There was no camera, very few apps.
Worth it to delay getting an actual phone. Not sure it’s needed for a very young child but for one that’s approaching the end of primary I don’t see an issue.

I think an 8 year old tracking steps and fitness is complete insanity.

They aren’t allowed smart watches at my DCs secondary school, I’m surprised primary schools would allow them?!

Our primary has banned smartwatches. Partly because they cause massive distraction and also because kids having camera devices in school and being able to film each other secretly on them raises safeguarding issues.

I don’t understand this obsession with tracking your child and I worry that we are creating a situation where later on the kids who grew up being tracked won’t see it as a red flag if their partner wants to track their whereabouts at all times “because they worry about them and want to be sure they are safe”.

We have one that has no games etc, can be remotely switched off (by the parent) so no distractions, doesn't allow Internet access but does let us track him and let's us call each other. It's really handy for when he's playing out after school, or walking home from school and wants to go to the park with friends etc etc.

So I disagree, it's been brilliant for allowing DS to have a bit of a wider range without the negatives of a phone

Another beeping watch story happened just before Midnight Mass in the early 90s, which actually was at midnight. Everybody was sitting silently, waiting for the priest to appear. He was a few minutes late, and the silence was broken by a chorus of beeping watches.

If it can record sound, make calls or take a photo it shouldn't be allowed in the primary classroom for safeguarding reasons. Also, children use the calculators on them in maths 😂 They're banned where I teach, quite rightly. No issue with digital watches with a step count etc.