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WITH YOUR KIDS

LIKE them or loathe them, smart watches for children are a sign of our times. And while they’ve been on the market for a while, the Polaroid Moji Kids IP7 GPS Tracker Watch is on another level.

It allows parents to track their children in real time, check on their position (accurate to within metres). It’s touchscreen and it’s waterproof so if they’re washing their hands or getting a little grubby, the phone won’t fry. It’s not watertight though, so I wouldn’t suggest swimming with it.

The lightweight smart watch uses GPS, Augmented GPS and locationbased services – triple positioning to get an accurate fix on your child. It has safe incoming calls, so children can only receive calls from numbers approved by the administrator parent – never from strangers – and there’s an SOS or a “familiarity number” button to call you.

The device is easy to use, with one call button to push and they can send voice notes by pressing “hold to talk” on the phone app.

With geofencing, parents can set up a minimum perimeter fence with a radius within 500m. This will allow you to get a notification once your child is out of the setup circle range. And if the device is taken off, it will sound an alarm with the administrator.

If you feel the need to record your child’s daily steps, kilojoules and distance, that’s available – and you could listen in to them without disturbing them.

These two surveillance features don’t sit well with me: monitoring children’s kilojoule expenditure, tracking their steps and eavesdropping are steps too far, although these devices are aimed at younger children and “tweenies”.

Other features include sleeping monitoring; tracking their movement history for up to three months; a watch finder; message alert; and remove shut down.

◆ The Polaroid Moji costs around R599

from Makro.