go go GIZMO GADGET

For All You Parents That

are reminiscing and now have the old-school Mr. Gadget song and animation popping up in your head, as his arms extend and do wonky things from his trench coat, I now have your attention. Okay, maybe not all of you; but listen up as I give you the low down on two up-to-date gizmos and gadgets. Not a lot of parents know about these awesome “watches” that are on the market. As a parent of two busy children and a mom against the cell phone craze amongst kids these days, these little gizmos and gadgets were a perfect fit for our family.

About six months ago our daughter received her first hand-me-down iPhone from her grandma — which was a big step up from her flip phone that she was embarrassed to use. As a parent, I’d loved the old school flip phone because it did the job of calling when she needed to and didn’t break the bank on our cell phone bill.

A few months of being a busy 10-year-old girl and running around with a bulky iPhone in her pocket, and not to mention a higher cell phone bill, it came crashing down on the sidewalk and needless to say was a no longer a working iPhone. With a lesson in play, her flip phone was once again activated, our bill was lowered, and our life continued on the same until we came across these awesome watches called the GizmopPal and the GizmoGadget. Watches like these or similar watches can be purchased online or the nearest phone carrier retailer. Different companies may even offer similar devices by different brands.

It was love at first sight. Here are some of the things that won me over.

Kids don’t have to worry about carrying around a phone. There are no pockets to fall out of, it’s hard to lose, and they don’t have the excuse that they left it in their backpack or on their bike. It’s always right there on their wrist.

It’s a tracking device, so when they are out roaming the neighborhood biking with their friends you’ll have peace of mind of knowing where they are. You can set GPS boundaries and will get notified if they have crossed those lines.

It’s a phone, people! You actually can make phone calls. But, get this, you program in the numbers that can call them and that they can call out. The GizmoPal holds five numbers and the GizmoGadget can store 10.

Our daughter has the GizmoGadget which tells the time and can message those 10 numbers as well. However, you have to have the app downloaded on your phone to reply back. The GizmoPal will say the time out loud by pressing a button, but does not display the time.

You can automatically have the phone answer — so if they are too busy or can’t hear the phone ring, the phone automatically picks up. And they are forced to talk to you whether they want to or not.

You as a parent control the settings from an app on your phone so you can have the phone set to quiet during certain times of the day. So during school hours our daughter’s phone is automatically silenced and she doesn’t have to worry about it ringing and being a disruption. The second she is done with school her watch switches over and is off silenced mode.

The watch does its job — it’s a phone that allows them to call and receive calls all while being able to be a kid. I have a sound mind knowing that they aren’t surfing the web with friends or being lost in a game that takes away from creating memories with friends.

It’s kid-friendly appearance is comfortable, and waterproof. It comes in a few different colors and you can buy different color bands online.

The best part about this whole thing is it’s just an added $5 a month on our monthly phone bill. The initial price of the actual watch can vary depending on where you purchase, but the price is right. It’s just brilliant — it allows your child who’s not old enough for a phone gain a little extra freedom in the neighborhood, all while giving your worrisome mom-brain a break.

We haven’t come across very many cons. We joke around that when the phone automatically picks up that you better not be talking bad about anyone otherwise you might be caught red handed. Sometimes it can be hard to hear them. As busy bodies they are moving all around while talking so we have to remind them to hold still for two seconds and hold the watch up by their mouth. Our daughter’s band has already been broken, but she is a super active kid and it could be easily replaced. Now that she is hitting middle school she is kind of embarrassed by the childish appeal that the watch has, but when I remind her of her old flip phone she gladly accepts her talking watch.

Those are the gizmos in a nutshell. Such a perfect fit for our family’s needs in this technology age. I’m just stating my mom opinion and trying to help out, one mom to another. [ aw ]