Inappropriate gift

[CaramelCandle]

Family member got walkie talkies for the kids age 6 and 5. I was sceptical about the safety of them but they convinced me they were safe. Just tried them out and straight away heard a man saying hello on the other end. Turned them off and put them back in the box. Don't think it's safe for kids to be talking to strangers or for people to be listening to their conversations. Is it unreasonable to give them back to the gifter? I know they weren't cheap and we won't be using them again.

You'll always get interference on walkie talkies no matter which channel you 'secure'. We use them at work and when there's building work in the area, you can hear builders talking to each other.

But it's never very clear and is more annoying than anything.

Unless your kids are going to be giving out clear instructions on where they live and other ways of contacting them, you've got zero to worry about.

It's not like paedophiles are going to come crawling out through the handset like Sadako from Ringu

We’ve got two sets of walkie talkies so I have one in the house when my two go out and about with them - I can hear what’s going on then! They’re great fun and not unsafe!

Change the frequency and use them when out and about. They can go out of sight in the park ans check in with you. When a little older they can go further - they aid safety.

I understand your concerns and obviously it's entirely up to you to let your children use them or not.
I wouldn't mention it to the person who bought them.
If I bought a nice expensive gift for someone's kids I would feel very hurt if the parent gave it back to me.

I’m impressed they actually worked. We have never had a set of children’s walkie talkies that worked properly, ie far enough away that you couldn’t hear the person talking anyway.

We use our walkie talkies when we go camping, they are great when the kids go off to play and we need to call them back for dinner.
We sometimes pick up the local taxi firm but we just change the frequency, it’s easy enough to do.

Lol. Nothing weird if sinister about it at all. Read the instructions and set it up properly and securely

Like lots of others, my walkie talkie set sometimes picked up others but no harm came of it. At 5 & 6 it’s a great opportunity to talk about interacting with people they don’t know. Eg if you hear another voice come and tell mum and we’ll change the settings. I had so much fun with mine - I wouldn’t return them. And I do get your concerns (my 6 year old doesn’t have any unsupervised internet/YouTube time) but with the right instructions I think these are fine.

Walkie talkies are a pretty normal gift. Personally I'd just switch them to a different channel but if you want to get rid of them then donate them quietly to a charity shop, don't upset the giver.

Not sure from your posts, but I think your possible lack of tech knowledge is more worrying than these toys, to be honest. Avoiding stuff won’t guarantee their safety online.

Although they’re still both young, you need to think about getting yourself some regular training on internet safety because you can’t shield them forever. They’ll be playing on tech at other kids houses and at school later on and Technology changes so fast that you really need to put some effort in to keeping up.

I did a postgrad in IT back in the nineties but that doesn't help me much, 20 years on. I’ve had to do a few online safety courses to ensure I can help keep DC safe online. You certainly can’t and shouldn’t rely on the school doing this for you.

There are lots of excellent online resources so start researching now. A thirty minute session once a year might be enough to keep you updated until they’re a bit older.

Well I wouldn’t say the gift is ‘inappropriate’, as it’s not like the giver would have thought ‘ah they will be good for the kids to chat to strangers on’. They’re a fairly normal kids present.
My children have some (aged 7 and 5) that my mum bought... they’re kept at her house. My mum supervises them using them. It’s fine.

It’s a great gift, you just need to teach your kids to stay safe, and supervise them!

I'd just hide them away without making a fuss. The children have other toys to play with surely?

Use them or don’t use them but why would you return them to the gifter? It’s not an inappropriate gift just one you aren’t happy about. Maybe sell on eBay or give it to charity if you really aren’t ok with the DC using them. It’s a nice gift though so why hurt someone’s feelings by giving them it back.

Teach them how to use them safely. I.e. don't talk to strangers, if anyone talks to you let me know.

To those of you saying the OP is being hysterical - my 3 year old got some yesterday too. Last night at about 1am we heard a male voice being INCREDIBLY aggressive, violent and derogatory to someone else on the line. It was actually very upsetting to hear - we have reported to the police and my daughter would only be using them supervised anyway, but I would not be happy about a child playing alone with these after what we heard last night.

You can’t change the frequency but could still find someone else - it’s all open radio waves that anyone with a similar radio can access.

These are binatone pink ones aimed at kids but have a good range. The cheaper shorter range ones are actually a much better option for young children!

That should say “you can change the frequency”

Also with regards to e-safety - you can teach children not to give their names out etc and to change the channel, but you cannot filter someone threatening to murder someone else and “get on your back you whore that’s all you’re good for” because by the time they’ve heard it it’s too late - and that’s the kind of thing we could hear through ours last night.

This reminds me of when I was a child, my brother bought a CB radio at a jumble sale and we ended up talking to lorry drivers and random people. Strangely enough, none of them kidnapped us 🤔

We love walk-in talkies too but like most things (including baby monitors and even Alexa) you can end up picking up other peoples frequencies, i wouldn’t say it’s dangerous as long as your keeping an eye on them using them.

Massive technophobic reaction. Finds a Tal’s of technology is to balance risks with opportunities, distinguish between risk and harm, and do stuff that maximises opportunities and minimises risks. This will be the mantra of your parental role and parental mediation as they navigate a digital world over the next many years. A blanket no is hardly ever the answer.

In this specific case - parental mediation for tech and kids simply just means educating yourself on how they work, and setting up and changing the frequency.

Typo in second sentence above should say “fundamentals”

Why didn't the just get kids walkie talkies where you can just talk to the other walkie talkies and not just anyone who's on the same frequency. I wouldn't like that either.

CaramelCandle

Did you have a baby monitor? Ours picked up the household who lived opposite. We said something and they definitely heard us.

I thought with walkie talkies you just switched frequencies. So much safer than baby monitors