TOTALLY GEEKED!

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

For the helicopter parent in all of you!

Ilumine · Regular

It's not to be a helicopter parent on a day-to-day basis, but for those extra crowded excursions.

Ilumine · Regular

When we were at Disney in October, we saw three lost children, one DH and I helped. Something like this would have quickened the search and lessened the fear of the children.

Especially of your child can talk, they can tell you what they are looking at, so it would be easier to find them.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

All the moms in my FB online mom group love it. They swear by it. Their favorite feature? That they can turn it on and listen to what's going on with their child at any time. They're now using it to spy on dad when he has the kids on his weekend.

NAOW · Vette's SS

I was going to say I could see them being useful if you and the kid's dad are split up and the kid goes to daycare and is picked up by different people on different days, it would give peace of mind to know they could get a hold of you if wires got crossed or something, but spying.. not cool.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

That's what all the moms are using them for nowadays. I guess they're $80 and then just five bucks a month. So that's pretty darn cheap. They designed it so you could listen in for the sole purpose that if a child got kidnapped you could turn it on and hear what the kidnapper was saying. There's some mom's out there that when their kids go to dad's for the weekend they call a hundred times a day. Or they call and quiz the kid on everything that is going on in the house. Dad's have gotten tired of it so now mom's have a new way to snoop.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

I also wonder other then the spying feature what's the difference between those simple phones for young kids and this? Those simple phones hold only a certain amount of numbers and the child can only call those numbers. They can't text or connect to the internet. And just about any phone can be tracked by gps these days. This is just basically a watch phone. A kid could lose this just as easily as a simple phone. So again, other than the spying thing what's the difference? Why not get them a phone?

chef · Guru

I love the auto-answer feature on this.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

chef wrote:
I love the auto-answer feature on this.

Do you like to spy? biggrin

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
I also wonder other then the spying feature what's the difference between those simple phones for young kids and this? Those simple phones hold only a certain amount of numbers and the child can only call those numbers. They can't text or connect to the internet. And just about any phone can be tracked by gps these days. This is just basically a watch phone. A kid could lose this just as easily as a simple phone. So again, other than the spying thing what's the difference? Why not get them a phone?

Well, I would think a 4 year old would be less likely to lose the watch, and it would be easier for them to use. It would be cool to listen to their school day, though.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I can see a practical application. If the child has activities away from mom or dad it could come in handy I guess.

I can also see it being abused.

I don't believe mine would have ever had the need for one.

Lady Gaga Snerd · Guru

I think it would have its uses.

FNW · Guru

It would have its uses. But I hope I never see the day where I would feel I'd need one.

Reminds me too much of those baby monitors. Best thing I ever did was put mine away. But I'm a bit OCD and devices like these just feed it.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Why not just get them a phone? Every two year old I know can use a cell phone.

Tinydancer · Guru

I think they'd be less likely to lose a watch type thing. I'd be afraid they'd forget their phone because it wasn't attached to them. I just wonder how we ever made it through childhood without all these gadgets...

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Something about this just bugs me. The whole auto answer thing was designed with a kidnapping in mind. Now remember how few kids get stranger napped. I'm sure husker can remind us. While it seems like a great product in theory I would be more pissed than you could describe to find out that DH's ex was listening in on our private conversations. That's exactly what moms are doing with it. Remotely turning it on so they can listen in. They are not listening to their school work or anything else. It's a spying tool. I just don't like this idea.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

And honestly? If I were a kidnapper the first things I would ditch would be anything like this or a cell phone. Any electronics.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
And honestly? If I were a kidnapper the first things I would ditch would be anything like this or a cell phone. Any electronics.

That is what I thought too. It's this big plastic thing strapped to their wrist. Kinda hard to miss.

Tinydancer · Guru

Some might not use it just for that reason though. Some parents like to know where there kids are at all times. I think that's too much but if this works for them then who am I to tell them they can't.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

What happened to letting your child play outside? They can't tell you where they're playing? At four they should be supervised anyway. You can't tell me that a four year old can't call. When SS didn't have a phone and he needed something or his mom didn't get him from school they let him call us. It's not like phones don't exist. If knowing where your child is at all times is such an issue than just implant a gps system in them. We've seriously gone over board on this issue. Tracking their buses? Craziness.

And like I said every single mother who has bought this for their kid that was on the mom page is just using the auto answer to snoop on dad. I don't like that at all. If you're that controlling YOU have issues.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

At four, when SS was in our care, we knew where he was 24/7. And we didn't even need a gps for it.

Tinydancer · Guru

I would never even use one but it's not up to me whether others can use it or not.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

I so want to hear what husker has to say on this.

Tinydancer · Guru

That WILL be interesting...lol

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

I belong to a step mothers group online. It's sad sometimes to see how these families act. There's a "game" that parents, mostly bio moms, play with the other parent using the kid as a pawn. They get the kid a cell phone. Then they call the kid a hundred times a day to ask them how they are. Is Daddy treating you okay? Is he taking care of you? Blah blah blah. Is your step mom being nice to you? Is she treating you okay? After so many calls dad and step mom take the phone away because you literally can't get anything done or have any time with your own child because the bio mom is calling every five minutes. Then the bio mom will start calling on the dad's number. When he eventually grows tired of this she will start calling on the step mom's number. They often enlist family members to help call all because they "miss them". It's a game and if you're not the custodial parent it gets old. In the beginning we got these calls. And it was always questioning about if we were taking care of him or not or treating him fairly. I thank god he didn't have one of these at the time or she would have been snooping on us big time.

Tinydancer · Guru

I've never heard anyone do that and if I did I'd tell them they were being butts.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

LOL You've not been divorced then. Divorce, especially with kids, can get uglier than anything you ever know.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Holy crap NJN. I've only dated a few guys with kids but none of the bio moms were like that. My last SO had two teenage boys that stayed with us every other weekend. Their mom hardly ever called & only if it was something relevant. I guess I've been lucky.

chef · Guru

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
chef wrote:
I love the auto-answer feature on this.
Do you like to spy?

Yep! Especially on silent toddlers who are up to no good. Like a certain redheaded one who tries to play innocent every time he's up to no good.

Tinydancer · Guru

I have a bunch of friends who've been divorced and I've never heard of either parent doing this. If I did I'd tell them to grow the hell up and stop using their kid as some kind of weapon.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Lexxy wrote:
Holy crap NJN. I've only dated a few guys with kids but none of the bio moms were like that. My last SO had two teenage boys that stayed with us every other weekend. Their mom hardly ever called & only if it was something relevant. I guess I've been lucky.

My VSS SIL? The one who only invites to things that needs gifts? She left her first husband, well technically they weren't married, she left him on their wedding day. But she didn't want him to be with anyone else. They have a little boy together. She had it put in her divorce papers that he couldn't have another woman spend the night while her son was there. Well, he got into a long term relationship with another woman who had two daughters. They lived together in the woman's house about five years before they finally got married. For years she would stalk him. Calling him at all times trying to catch his g/f there. She lived an hour and a half away but would drive out there and just cruise by his house incessantly watching for something. She never caught them. The new g/f would go stay at her mom's and her ex would have all three kids at the house.

If she had had something like this? Yep, she would have done it. She was nutso. SS's grandma would listen in on us in a heartbeat. I have no doubt.

I'm telling you, there's some crazy ass people out there. Usually the ones that don't need to be parents and they are.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Tinydancer wrote:
I have a bunch of friends who've been divorced and I've never heard of either parent doing this. If I did I'd tell them to grow the hell up and stop using their kid as some kind of weapon.

Go spend a few days sitting in family court... I've done it. Actually many days. The last time I was there in fact there was a couple there. He was with his new g/f. Apparently his wife and g/f both had children by him about the same age. But there was an older boy. He was about four. The parents kept telling the boy things like Go tell your dad he's an *******. Go tell your mom she's a bitch. Go tell your dad he's a good for nothing bum. Go tell your mom she's a whore. One lady even turned around and said "Look, I don't know what ya'll's problem is but you need to stop treating that little boy that way." The parents got really angry. I thought there was going to be a fight.

Family court is filled with this stuff.

Tinydancer · Guru

Then I'm glad the ones I know have not gone overboard. I'm sure there are a lot of whackos out there but it sure isn't every divorced person. I would think not even most divorced people. If I did know jerks like this they sure wouldn't be considered friends for very long. I don't tolerate whackos well.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Like I said, go sit in family court. There's tons of them.

Tinydancer · Guru

So you think that most are like this? I don't buy it.

FNW · Guru

The boys' preschool welcomed and encouraged us to spy if we wanted to. I could watch them play from inside the building and they would never know I was watching. After drop off, once I knew they were happy, I'd leave.

My mother was a spy. She even read my diary. I hated it and resented her for many years.

There's a fine line between keeping tabs on someone and invading their privacy. I think this device crosses the line.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Tinydancer wrote:
So you think that most are like this? I don't buy it.

I think there are a huge number of them that are like this. More than people think. I don't know if it's the majority or not but I do firmly believe that people lose their sense when they get divorced and especially when there is a child involved. Because most people, especially women, are threatened by another woman. DH's ex flat out told me she would never accept the role I play in SS's life. Of course, that was six years ago. We've come a long way. But yes, I think a huge section of our population divorces and uses their kids as pawns.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

FNW wrote:
The boys' preschool welcomed and encouraged us to spy if we wanted to. I could watch them play from inside the building and they would never know I was watching. After drop off, once I knew they were happy, I'd leave.

My mother was a spy. She even read my diary. I hated it and resented her for many years.

There's a fine line between keeping tabs on someone and invading their privacy. I think this device crosses the line.

I do too. And with the GPS you KNOW where your kids are. Why do you need to listen in on what they are doing? This bothers me. I don't think I'm a bad person but I'd be pissed to find out someone had been eavesdropping me.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

And yeah, it would change some things. There are things I don't want my SS's mom knowing. Like for instance it's none of her business what grades my kids are making in school. If DH and I are discussing this while SS is watching tv I would consider it an invasion of privacy.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Look. If my kids had to do the visitation thing with the ex, I would have loved something like this. Because I would have had every reason to think he would have just left the state with them.

But really, any of your smart devices can be turned on by a remote source.

We even pay for it with a lot of the security systems.

The thing with this is they can be easily removed.

So even if you have a kid in your home with one, all you have to do is take it away from them.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Well, all you have to do if you want to leave the state is leave the devices behind.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

That's what I'm saying.

chef · Guru

When would I use the auto-answer feature?

I call DS, he doesn't answer, and I know he's not doing anything that he couldn't pick up. I would give it about 5 minutes then call back. If he still didn't answer, I would turn on the auto-answer to find out what's going on. For example: He has an after-school activity. I get delayed by an accident. I call so I can tell him this. No answer. What could he be doing? Bathroom, playing, didn't hear it ring, forgot to turn on the ringer, etc. I call back in 5 minutes. Still no answer. Ok, so, now what? 5 minutes is enough time to finish going to the bathroom. Maybe he can't hear the phone or forgot to turn on the ringer. I would turn on the auto-answer so I can figure out what's going on.

I wouldn't use it to spy on him when he's out with other family members or with friends unless I had VERY good reason to. As in, I've called multiple times, no answer, no call back, etc. In most babysitting situations, I don't call at all because it's only a couple hours at most. Sometimes, my Grandma watches him for a couple days at a time (like when we were moving and got tired of packed boxes getting unpacked by DS). I call once or twice per day to make sure all is well and nothing is needed. If I called, there was no answer, it's been an hour or two with no call back, I call again, and there's still no answer, I'd turn on the auto-answer to see what's going on.

Out with friends: He will be expected to check in every few hours or when he's going to a different location. Say he's going to the movies and a restaurant. I expect him to check in when he gets to and leaves the theater and gets to and leaves the restaurant. This is how I was raised. My parents would be fine with me being wherever as long as they knew where I was. Except, we didn't have cell phones then so I was given a watch and given a time and was expected to be at x place at y time or lose privileges. We would go to Knott's and they would let me do my own thing but would say be at Montezuma's Revenge entrance at noon, be at Boomerang entrance at 2, be at the splash ride at 4, be at the restaurant at 6, etc. I knew darn well I'd better be at those places at those times or I'd be in big trouble.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Oh goodness chef. You sound like I use to sound.

My rules were simple.

Before driving, I had to know who would be driving, where they were going, at least one contact number other than theirs and when they would be back.

When they started driving and didn't have other parents around, they got a curfew. Depending on if school is in or not. I need a general direction, an idea of who all is going. And if they leave the immediate tricounty area let me know.

My kids are pretty good about telling me where they are.

Caitlyn takes off for a couple days at a time to go out of town with her friends every now and then.

The boys will eventually be doing the same thing.

chef · Guru

I feel I'm being reasonable. I never felt spied on or like my privacy was violated when I was a kid. I had a long leash, so to speak, but I also knew the rules. I would rather err on the side of caution (like my parents did) than have my son be one of the few that does get abducted. There is such a thing as being too secure in the thought that nothing will happen.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Well, let's clear up a few things. First, this is marketed for 4-8 years old. So they won't be driving. And I doubt many of them are being left at home alone for long periods of time. I certainly wouldn't leave my four year old alone at home. Seven or eight, maybe. If I was just running to the corner store. So there's no reason for them to not answer because they're driving. If they are in the bathroom it is on their wrist. They should be able to answer. Another thing, the child cannot change the settings at all. All the settings have to be changed by the parent from their phone. So if the wrist watch thing isn't ringing that's that the parent's fault. The only other thing I can think of is if he takes it off and goes somewhere. In that case the spy device isn't worth anything at all. Other than being able to listen in on people I really don't see the difference between this and say a Disney phone that does all of the same stuff but doesn't listen in. Except those phones get like eight numbers.

We got SS a phone out of necessity. We really didn't want him to have one. But we purposefully gave him one without the internet. He's ten. He doesn't need it. In fact, I don't even think his takes pictures. The only problem we had with it was one time he lost it. Otherwise he's pretty good with it. He doesn't check his messages though.

Tinydancer · Guru

I still say if some helicopter mom wants to buy it, it makes no difference to me but then I still can't believe there are so many exes that are trying to spy on the other parent. Who has time in the day to keep calling the kids phone or watch? Do these people not work or have a life?

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Tinydancer wrote:
I still say if some helicopter mom wants to buy it, it makes no difference to me but then I still can't believe there are so many exes that are trying to spy on the other parent. Who has time in the day to keep calling the kids phone or watch? Do these people not work or have a life?

No. They live off child support and welfare.

You weren't around when I first got married. I had some nightmare stories to tell. So much so that Lily accused me of making it up just for the drama. We are going on seven years now and things are pretty good. But those first two or three years? Nope.

Tinydancer · Guru

You must know some whacko people then. If any one I knew was doing this they'd get an earful from me before they were permanently gone from my life. I do have to say that I don't personally know anyone who's on welfare so maybe that's why I've never seen it.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I haven't been posting with you that long.

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