Category: For Kids

Keruve 2010 GPS Tracking Systems For Kids and Alzheimer Patients

Keruve, a Spanish GPS tracking device manufacturer, has recently announced its Keruve 2010 GPS tracking system. This system will build off of its already existent GPS tracking watch and portable GPS tracking receiver. The way the current model works is that the person who needs to be tracked wears the GPS wrist watch that is part of the system. Then, when the tracker wants to know where the trackee is, they just press a button on the receiver and they are given the person’s location to the nearest street address.

This is a relatively simple concept to those that are familiar with personal GPS tracking systems, but something that might sound revolutionary to those just becoming aware of this powerful technology.

But the new Keruve 2010 improves upon this design in several different ways. For starters, there has been improvement on the appearance of the GPS tracking watch that is part of the system. Now there are far more models to choose from including three watches for men, two for women, and a unisex model. All watches now have larger numbers for easier reading by young and old users alike.

It also now includes no less then four positioning systems to cycle through in cases where, for whatever reason, the most accurate GPS system is not available. While the most accurate is still going to be GPS bases, it also features a Keruve indoor position finder when the personal GPS tracking watch is unable to find a GPS signal, a VisionCellid location system, and a GSM network system. This is very useful because in almost any circumstance you are going to have some idea where the watch is.

They have also made some significant improvement to the GPS tracking receiver. There are now clearly labeled buttons on the touch screen, making it easier to find what you are looking for. They have expanded the display to 4.2″ and increased the font size of the displayed addresses to improve readability. A new ergonomic design rounds out the receiver improvements.

While the already existing model was a solid, though expensive, real time GPS tracking system, the improvements introduced by the Keruve 2010 should provide a better user experience in both terms of ease of use and functionality.

Keruve GPS Tracking System Marketing

Below are a few of the ways in which the Keruve tracking watch was marketed in the native Spain. The commercial below is in Spanish, but I have translated the information about the video into English using Google Translate with some minor clean up:

Presentation Keruve. Keruve as a direct locator specialist for people with Alzheimer’s disease in the first stage. With the Keruve GPS watch, a person with Alzheimer’s can continue walking as they did before, and the family with the receiver can know where the Keruve watch is whenever they want.

As you can see, people on the other side of the Atlantic run into the same problems that Americans do. We all have children that can get lost in the mix and milieu of people in our modern societies. We have older relatives whose bodies have outlived their minds and suffer from the crippling disease of dementia, with the most common manifestation being Alzheimer’s.

The next video is more of a news story and is particularly focused on the use of the Keruve GPS tracking system in Alzheimer’s patients:

Demonstration of the Keruve personal locator at the residence Santa Elena in Seville, Spain. Video provides an explanation of performance and interview with one of the inventors and the director of the association of relatives of Alzheimer patients in Seville, Spain.

Now that we have seen that this device is marketed both as a child tracking system and an Alzheimer’s tracking system let’s briefly discuss both of these applications.

Keruve GPS Tracking System For Kids

Tracking systems for kids are nothing new on GPS For Today. We have seen the Amber Alert GPS tracking system and how it tries to provide reliable information for parents on the location of their children. Unlike the Amber Alert GPS, the Keruve GPS tracking system for kids uses a watch rather than a stand alone tracking unit. This has its advantages and disadvantages.

The first advantage is that the watches are now much more natural looking than they were before. One of the biggest issues that people have with GPS tracking watches for kids is that they are often too bulky and obviously a safety device. Not so with the Keruve GPS watch. It has a sleek design that makes it look like a real watch. Though it might be too large for the wrists of the smallest children, it should work fine for teenagers and some pre-teens.

Another advantage of a watch is that they are usually on the wrist of your child. Sure, sometimes kids take off a watch when they play – but the Keruve is not able to be taken off unless they have a special tool to do so. Without that tool your child will be wearing that watch until you take it off from them.

Some disadvantages of a watch are that they are easily discovered and removed by kidnappers, they suffer some serious wear and tear if your child is a boy and they like to adventure, and that they must be worn to be effective. While these disadvantages can all be avoided, it does take a considerable amount of effort to do so.

Keruve GPS Tracking System For Alzheimer’s

A relatively new and novel idea is to use GPS tracking for Alzheimer’s patients. This is a great idea since a good portion of those that suffer from this form of dementia will “wander” at some point. There can be little that is more disturbing than loosing a elderly relative who appears to be healthy and sane but is unable to remember the recent history. They can sometimes suffer greatly when they are lost and separated from their loved ones and familiar surroundings. Real time GPS tracking systems are designed to help track down Alzheimer’s suffers quickly so that they can be restored to comfortable and safe surroundings.

GPS tracking watches for Alzheimer’s patients work well because they are attached to the wrist and if the patient has had a long history of wearing a wrist watch they should have no problem wearing this GPS device. If they do not regularly wear a watch then it might be difficult to get them to do so on their own. If this is the case you might want to pursue other avenues of tracking them or talk with your doctor to come up with ideas on how to introduce a new routine into their life.

Keruve 2010 GPS Tracking System Screen Shots

Here are some screen shots from the Keruve 2010:

Keruve 2010 GPS Tracking System Larger Numbers

Keruve 2010 GPS Tracking System Location ProcessKeruve 2010 GPS Tracking System Look and Feel

As you can see the Keruve 2010 GPS tracking system is an interesting bit of technology. Marketed as a child and Alzheimer’s GPS tracking watch it offers effective tracking services in a user friendly and Internet-less environment. Wherever you have a cell phone signal you can use the Keruve GPS tracking system, making it great for those in urban settings who want to track a person via GPS.

Child GPS: A Beginner’s Guide

Is it a good idea to use GPS tracking for children?  Does a  parent acquiesce to some substandard parenting ideal if they use child GPS?  Do these tracking devices work effectively?  What type of kid tracking device works best?  Are there any easy, cheap tracking alternatives?

It is the hope of this short article to try and make answer some of these questions for the parent just beginning to think about using some type of GPS tracking with their children in an effort to keep them safe and secure in our increasingly dangerous world.  There is a sea of information out there about different options for parents and their children, so getting a solid handle on some of the basics is important if we are to find our way to safe harbors.  The last thing we want to do is spend lots of money on something that doesn’t work well.  After reading this you will hopefully be a little better equipped to make good decisions about any potential purchases.

GPS: The Basics

As one famous song once started, “Let’s start at the very beginning / A very good place to start” and begin this discussion about GPS for children and talk about GPS itself. Most people have some level of familiarity with GPS because of the prolific dissemination of GPS navigation devices. Brands like Garmin, TomTom, and Magellan have popularized the use of GPS, but what exactly is GPS? How does it work? And what differentiates GPS navigation from GPS tracking?

GPS stands for Global Positioning System and is a constellation of over 20 satellites currently in orbit around the earth. Each of these satellites broadcasts a signal that contains information about the location of the satellite and the the time that the signal originated. These signals shower down from the heavens and are collected by specialized radio antennas. These GPS antennas then funnel these signals to a receiver which interprets the information from the signal. Once three signals have been received from satellites, the GPS is then able to discover its location through a mathematical principle called trilateration.

Trilateration is best described by the following picture:

Once you know your distance from three objects you can find out your position relative to all three objects. If you also know where these three objects are in the world then you can also know your exact position in the world as well.

A real life example might help clarify this principle. Let’s say that your child is in a ten by ten room. They are located somewhere in the room but neither you nor they know exactly where they are. In the center of each wall is a piece of rope that will be used to measure their distance from that wall. You come to find that the child is located 5 feet from all 4 walls. Where is your child?

If you the do the math you will find that your child can only be in one location, the exact center of the room. This is a lot like trilateration with GPS satellites and is the one way thing that all GPS devices have in common, irregardless of whether it is a child GPS tracker, a pet GPS tracker, a car GPS tracker, or a fleet GPS tracker.

GPS Trackers or GPS Loggers?

Now we should turn our attention to another important distinction in the world of GPS, that between GPS trackers and GPS loggers.  As one might expect, a GPS tracker is something that has the capability of being tracked in real time.  These might also be called real time GPS tracking devices.  These work by collecting the location data using the process of trilateration as outlined above and then sending that data over a cell phone network where it can be stored for user access, which usually means for display on a website.  Real time GPS trackers generally have a monthly subscription to cover the cost of using the cell phone network to transfer data.

A data logger is a GPS device that does what its name suggests, it logs the data that is calculates via trilateration.  Almost all GPS navigation devices are data loggers, so are GPS tracking sticks and other types of covert GPS tracking devices.  While these devices can be very useful for analyzing GPS information after the fact, they are terrible real time tracking devices because you  actually have to have the device in order to view the information.  What good does that do you if you want to find a missing child?

As a result, all child GPS devices are going to be real time GPS tracking devices.  This is without exception.  If someone is trying to sell you a data logger then you want to run out the door!

Types of Child GPS Devices

There are several types of tracking devices for children that you should take a look at before making your purchase.  All of these devices do their tracking in real time.  Some options may be better for some parents than others depending on your own particular situation and needs.  While some trackers will excel in certain situations they will also flounder in others.  Finding the “perfect” child tracking device is not an easy task and you generally have to give up some quality in order to get another quality that you really want.  The main type of child GPS include: GPS cell phones, GPS tracking devices, and GPS watches.

Child GPS Cell Phones

One of the easiest ways for parents to track their children is to use a cell phone. This makes child GPS tracking very easy for parents that already have their children using a cell phone for other reasons.  There are some phones that are specifically designed for this kid tracking.  These generally have very few buttons, and the buttons that they do have are more akin to speed dial buttons that regular phone buttons.  They are fairly easy to use and allow for one touch communication between child and parent.  We have written another article about these phones called Kids GPS Phone: A Brief Introduction.

The second way to use a cell phone to track your kids is to set up a tracking system yourself.  Just get a GPS enabled cell phone and install some GPS tracking software on it.  This can be a relatively cheap if you are already paying for a family plan that includes a data element since many cell phone tracking software packages are free.   All you have to do is install the software on your cell phone and you will have a real time tracking device for your use.

Pros:

  • In some cases, it uses a device already used by the child – thus saving money on device purchase and service plan
  • Very useful devices that allow you to call the phone if the child is somewhere they are not supposed to be

Cons:

  • They are the first thing to get destroyed or discarded during an abduction, they are not easily concealed
  • Cell phone can sometimes be more trouble than they are worth with text messaging, camera phones, and internet surfing

Child GPS Locators

Stand alone child GPS locators are on the rise as GPS technology is creating more powerful devices that fit into smaller and smaller dimensions. One great example of this is the Amber Alert GPS. At a stunningly small 1.77″ x 1.68″ x .78″ this device is among the smallest kid trackers on the market. It uses A-GPS for quick and energy efficient location finding. A one way voice monitoring systems allows parents to listen in on up to 30 minutes of conversation per month in case of an emergency. The device supports bread-crumbing which is great for helping you track down your child. The unit even has a handy SOS button that when pressed by your child will send you their location every 5 minutes until the system has been restored.

The device is easily concealed in a pocket or personal bag, making it less likely to be discarded by someone seeking to take your child. If the device doesn’t get taken then you can be sure that there is going to be a higher chance that you will recover them.

Right now, the Amber Alert GPS is being offered with a $100 discount. If this is an interesting option for you then I would recommend heading over to their website in order to find out more information about this GPS device and how it might help you and your family stay safe.

Pros:

  • Small, light-weight GPS tracking devices are extremely easy to conceal
  • Extremely accurate position information, especially when using A-GPS

Cons:

  • Limited battery life means you need to stay on top of charging the device regularly
  • Expensive – can cost $100s  for the device and anywhere from $100 to $400 a year in service plan coverage

Child GPS Watches

A child GPS watch is the third and final option available for those seeking to find a way to track their children.  In many ways, these are the ideal from of child GPS.  What would be a better GPS tracking device than an inconspicuous child’s watch?  Then throw in some cell phone functionality, like one button calling, and you have a power child safety device.

When you look at the current selection of GPS tracking watches for kids you are going to find that we are much closer to the ideal device described above than one might suspect.  There are already a few models planned that do in fact incorporate real time GPS tracking technology with cell phone communication.  Since most real time tracking devices already utilize the ever expanding cell phone network, this marriage was a perfect union for watch manufacturers.  Now that they have the concept they just need to execute it in a way that works for parents and for kids.

Child GPS WatchHowever, many of the current child GPS watches that actually do exist are nothing like one would hope.  Their GPS works almost exclusively outdoors, making them woefully inadequate as a child safety device.  They also do not feature A-GPS, voice communication, and they are bulky and extremely ugly – just take a look at the watch to the right!

Pros:

  • Watch can easily be seen as a normal watch and will not be removed by an attacker
  • Easy dual use device – it tells time and tracks your child
  • Children can easily be convinced to use the watch through the power of fun

Cons:

  • Bulky design makes them a pain to wear and very suspicious  to would-be abductors
  • Yet to reach its full potential – many of the most promising tracking watches are still in the design stage and have yet to be released for sale

Where Do We Go From Here?

As you can see, each type of child GPS is going to have its own set of strengths and weaknesses.  As the market stands today, there is no outright winner in regards to what you should equip your child with, but hopefully this guide has given you some good handles to go out and find the right type of tracker for your specific needs.  If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below in the comments section and one of our GPS tracking editors will do their best to answer it for you.

Child Tracking With Amber Alert GPS

One of the best devices on the market right now for child tracking is the Amber Alert GPS.  It is a small GPS tracking device than can provide real time updates on your child’s location and help you answer that all important question: where is my child?

With the Amber Alert GPS you get a very powerful GPS tracking device in a nice, compact package. Coming in at 1.77″ x 1.68″ x .78″ this is one of the smaller tracking devices on the market. You can easily conceal this in your child’s pocket, coat, or backpack without it being annoying to the child or easily detectable by someone seeking to do your child harm.

Even though the device is small, it does not loose any of the functionality that parents are going to be looking for in a safety GPS for their child. The position information is accurate and the number of ways that a parent can access this information is impressive. The following are all ways that parents can be alerted about the position of their child:

  • The call or text the Amber Alert GPS to ask for a position update.  If you have a web enabled phone you can see their position on a map right on your phone.
  • View a map of their location online in real time whenever you want to get an update.
  • If your child presses their SOS button you messages can be sent out to 5 phone numbers or emails, meaning that you and your spouse can be notified of the SOS on your phones and your email – this is a great feature for working parents who have to juggle different phone and email accounts.
  • If your child goes outside a predetermined GeoFence then you will be alerted of this movement via text message or email.
  • Be notified if your child starts moving faster than a predetermined speed that you set up.  This can be good for child safety, but is particularly helpful in tracking teen drivers and monitoring their driving behavior.
  • And finally, if the temperature exceeds or drops below a certain threshold there is also an alert that is sent out to you.  This alert can be modified and is useful for ensuring that your child is safe and comfortable.

In addition to all the location feature there are two additional features worth mentioning.  The first is the SOS button.  This button, as you might have implied from the bullet points above, will send out a message containing your child’s location when they press this button.  These messages will continue to appear every 5 minutes, giving you a fresh update of your child’s location.  This is obviously huge.  If your child had to press the button because they were being taken by a stranger then having their position delivered to you every 5 minutes will help you and the police locate your child extremely quickly.  Even if they are not taken, but only injured or scared, it is really nice to be able to get to them quickly if they are on the move without having to call the device to see where they are at.

The second important feature is something that the Amber Alert folks call “monitoring.”  This is a feature controlled by the parent that lets them listen in on what is going on around the child.  Again, this is a huge feature when something is going down with your child and they have pressed the SOS button.  If they are under attack you can hear the voice of the attacker or you can hear that your child is handling the situation appropriately and getting the help that they need.  Monitoring equips you with the knowledge that you need to make an informed decision about your child’s safety.

With all these positives about this child tracking device we have to talk about some of the negatives associated with it as well.  The first is a fairly short battery life.  This device can hold a charge between 18 and 24 hours.  While this is plenty of time in most circumstance, it can be  a hassle to switch batteries every day to ensure your child has full power for the next time they are separated from you.

But to be honest, this power issue is entirely expected.  When you have a device that is as small and concealable as the Amber Alert GPS and allows you to get real time tracking information you are pretty much guaranteed that the battery life is going to be relatively brief.  The technology just isn’t there right now.

If you decide to purchase the Amber Alert GPS  you are going to be getting one of the best products on the market for child tracking.  The device is not cheap, but you really do get a lot for the money that you pay.

4 Types of Tracking Devices Explained

When you think about tracking devices these days your mind will automatically go to toward thinking about GPS. Our culture has enough exposure through experience, news shows like 60 Minutes, and crime show dramas that GPS tracking can be incredibly useful for law enforcement purposes. But we are also beginning to realize that the ability to have tracking devices on our person at all times is also a desirable condition. We think of how useful it would be to attach a GPS watch to an Alzheimer’s patient so that if they wander off they can be easily located by their family. Or we might see how beneficial it might be to be able to monitor our teen’s driving while they are out on the road using the family car. We may even see how easily a tracking unit could help us make a decision about whether or not a spouse is cheating on us, the location information provided by a data logging GPS confirming our suspicions about their fidelity.

With all this utility staring us in the face it is no wonder that we are becoming a GPS-centric society. New devices and new ways to track things are being introduced at an ever increasing pace. Tracking technology still has a long way to go, and as our ability to make more powerful satellites, more accurate time pieces, and more sensitive GPS receivers continues to grow our ability to do more with tracking devices will increase. As this happens, more and more of our tracking dreams will become a reality.

In the mean time, lets take a look at the current state of tracking devices to help us get an idea of what is possible and where things might end up going to.

Cell Phone Tracking Devices

iPhone GPS Tracking

The first tracking device that most people are going to recognize is the cell phone. This is probably the most widely used tracking device today but very few people actually realize that there cell phone can be used to track their movements. All a cell phone needs is a signal from a cell phone tower and to be turned on for it to be one of the most powerful tracking devices on the market.

The way this particular device works is going to depend on your cell phone make and on the provider that you use, but you can summarize how each works by bringing up the principle of trilateration. How this works is that the cell phone does some fancy math to determine its location based upon the know location of either a cell phone tower or a GPS satellite, telling the mobile phone exactly where it is at any given moment in time. (I have explained this concept in my post about how GPS tracking watches work, so you can see that article if you want a more in depth explanation.)

This has obvious implications as a personal tracking device. Since most people use cell phones in some capacity almost everyone is going to be able to be tracked in this way. Now some phones and phone service providers like to make the tracking function of their phones widely know – for example the iPhone, Blackberry, and other smartphones will shout this information from the top of their lungs – but there are a lot of other phones that offer this functionality that can be used as tracking devices on a consumer level. The reason that I say on the consumer level is that the police and other first responders have the ability to track cell phones of all varieties, thanks in part to a 2005 law requiring this functionality for emergency response purposes.

Some mobile providers will offer consumer grade tracking on their phones as part of a family tracking plan. I have seen rates for this starting at $5 a month – which is really inexpensive for those who already have the data plan that these programs often require. But there are also ways to get GPS tracking on your cell phone for free. I have compiled a list of free GPS applications for cell phones, but these services are generally restricted to certain phones and require that you have a robust data plan to take full advantage of their functionality. They are extremely powerful and cheap, but even cheap GPS tracking can be expensive if you can’t afford a data plan for your phone.

Vehicle Tracking Devices

Another type of tracking device that people are going to think about are vehicle tracking devices. These are really commercial grade trackers that offer a whole host of important fleet management features for businesses and corporations. Some of the better devices can do much more than simply track the movements of a vehicle. They can:

  • Give directions to a driver, making routing and other business related activities much easier and much more efficient.
  • Monitor important vehicle metrics like speed and direction as well as other vehicle performance indicators like the ease of stops and starts.
  • Cute an idling engine that has been running too long.
  • Turn off vehicle lights that have been left on by a driver.
  • Give GPS coordinates to the authorities in case of a theft or medical emergency.
  • Serve as an electronic and positional time card, helping workers work harder while on the clock.

The thing about vehicle tracking systems is that they are anything but cheap. The tracking device itself will run you several hundred dollars depending on the level of functionality that you want the device to have.  GPS bus tracking devices are going to be different than GPS fleet tracking devices because they will do different things. They will therefore have different costs associated with them.

Another things about vehicle tracking that is going to raise the price a bit is paying for the tracking service with your provider. This can range from tens of dollars per unit to hundreds of dollars per unit. Most companies are going to give you a reduced price for each unit you track, but there is little you can do to reduce costs here expect for try and find a free GPS tracking software package. These do exist, but instead of money you will have to invest time to get the system to work just like you want it. For some individuals it is just going to better to go with a paid tracking service.

Car Tracking Devices

Very similar to vehicle tracking devices, car tracking devices are used track a car or vehicle but they often lack some of the functionality that the more commercial grade vehicle trackers might have. For example, a car tracker usually doesn’t have the ability to lock and unlock doors, cut the engine, or notify a driver if they are idling too long. A vehicle tracker does this because that is the market it is catered to (businesses with fleets of vehicles it wants to monitor) while car trackers appeal to individuals who want to see where their car is or to recover a stolen vehicle. In the world of GPS car tracking, there are two main uses: to monitor an individual’s activity or to recover a stolen vehicle.

There are a few different reasons why a person might want to install a GPS tracking device inside of a car for the purpose of people monitoring. One reason is that the person might be a suspect in an ongoing police investigation and the police want to monitor their activity without the cost associated with physical surveillance. Using GPS is a lot more cost effective, and as long as a warrant has been obtained, they can track an individual for as long as the court deems appropriate.

Zoombak GPS Tracker

Another reason might be to keep track of a teen’s driving habits. By installing a GPS device in their car you can get a lot of information about how they drive, where they drive, and when they drive. This can be used to enforce family driving rules and create a safe environment for them to drive in. Teen drivers have one of the highest incidents of fatal car crashes of the age groups recorded by insurance companies, so finding a way to help them drive safely should be the top priority of any parent. For some, this means using a GPS tracking device as an aid.

Still another reason to install a car tracking device would be to see if a spouse is cheating on you. While most of the time a tracking device is only going to tell you where your spouse has been, this knowledge can be extremely useful in determining the truth about their actions. If they said they are going to a friends house but their car ends up somewhere else then you know that something might be going on with them. You can call them very innocently and ask them how so-and-so’s house is going and if they tell you that everything there is fine even though they are not there you might know that something is up with them and that you should maybe investigate things further.

For each of these uses you will notice that being able to do a lot of the stuff that GPS vehicle tracking can do is superfluous. What a person in this situation needs to do is be able to track the movements of a person – and not always in real time either. While it is nice to be able to track a teen in real time or to see if a spouse is cheating as it happens, a data logger will generally do just as a good.

However, when it comes to being able to recover a stolen vehicle having a real time GPS tracking device is going to be a good idea. That way, when the criminal takes away your vehicle the police can have real time tracking information that will lead them right to your property. That way the criminal can be caught and your property can be returned to you. One of the major theft recovery GPS tracking devices is LoJack and it has been around for years. It is very effective at helping police find stolen property.

GPS Tracking Watches

Finally, the last tracking device that we should talk about are <link>GPS tracking watches</link>. A GPS watch is exactly what it sounds like – a watch that has all the functionality of a GPS device. When you take a look at it, there are two main types of GPS tracking watches and each type has a corresponding use. There are watches that act as data loggers and there are watches that act as real time trackers.

Garmin 405 GPS Tracking Watch

A data logger might be something like the Garmin Forerunner 405. This is a fitness GPS tracking watch that is the top of the line and has tons of really cool features. It is great for serious athletes who want to take their training to the next level and is even better for multi-sport athletes. When paired with a heart rate monitor it provides some of the best workout metrics of any device on the market. It is also a stereotypical example of what a data logging GPS tracking watch is good for. The device logs workout information like speed, altitude, direction, total time working out, and heart rate. This watch is just a data logger marketed toward runners and is the ultimate fitness tracking device.

GuardianLion LEO GPS Tracking Watch

A real time tracker might look something more like the GuardianLion Leo. This is a full featured GPS tracking device that fits on your wrist. It combines the best of cell phone technology with the power of GPS location data to create the ultimate safety device for kids and those suffering from Alzheimer’s. It allows parents or caretakers to have a real time knowledge about the location of their charge and even allows them to get into contact with that individual through the watch itself! This is extremely powerful technology and until recently these watches were so bulky as to be comical. Apparently, the GuardianLion Leo is small enough to fit comfortably on a writs and actually looks something like a normal watch.

The Future of Tracking Devices

The future is going to be portable, personal tracking devices. As we can already see with the GPS tracking watches and cell phones, the technology is making great strides toward becoming more and more consumer friendly. It is being packaged and delivered in a way that is very palatable for consumers and this means that tracking devices are going to be here for a very long time and in many different forms. If I had to put money on one become dominate it would have to be the cell phone, but the future is by no means certain. We will just have to wait and see what happens – but I know this for sure, GPS is going to be a big part of my childrens’ lives and an even bigger part of their childrens’ lives.

Geomate Jr: A Kids GPS For An Active Child

Geocaching is a great way for kids to ditch their video games and TV for an active outdoor adventure.  Kids need some type of excuse to get outside and play in the great outdoors. A life of video games and TV has led to high levels of obesity in America when combined with a steady diet of processed food. Our children need to exercise if they are to break the cycle, so finding interesting and compelling reasons to get them out the door is something that parents are going to be looking for at every opportunity.

Geocaching combines our children’s love for technology with their need to get outside and DO something.  It is like a real life video game, kids must use an electronic device to find a hidden treasure located somewhere around them.  The device guides them to their location and helps them navigate the world around them.  The can run, or bike, or even walk on their search – all of theses activities are recommended by government orginizations as great ways to improve your child’s health.

But there is one catch with geocaching, the GPS devices traditionally used for it are anything but cheap.  Devices like the Garmin GPS 60CSx Handheld GPS Navigator and the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx Color High-Sensitivity Mapping Handheld GPS run somewhere above $200 a piece. Sure, they are great devices that can be used for way more than just geocaching, but do you really want to bed dropping that much money on a device that will help your kids play?

Savy to this issue, a company and product was create to solve this issue: Geomate.jr.  The product is significantly cheaper than the more traditional geocaching alternatives provide by Garmin and other GPS manufacturers.  Right now, you can get it for about $70 at REI. The only thing that even really comes close to this in terms of price is the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator, which is being sold four about $85.

The Garmin eTrex has received some pretty high praise from its users as a geocaching GPS.  Here is one that I though was particularly telling:

This is my primary Geocaching GPS. The high sensitivity chip has the same strong processing power, and thus signal sensitivity and position resolution, as any of the more expensive units. It gives me excellent accuracy in areas where my older GPS units just give up, even dense forest cover.

If you’re only interested in point to point navigation (geocaching, trail tracks or just finding your way back to the car or the ski chalet), then this unit will do a great job for a no-regrets price.

In my opinion, this is going to be the product that you are going to want to compare the Geomate.jr up against if you begin to seriously consider it as a geocaching tool for your child since the price difference is only about $15.

So, what are the Geomate.jr’s features?

  • Comes preloaded with about 250,000 geocache locations covering all 50 U.S. states
  • Turn the unit on and it will load up the closest geocaching location stored in memory; to find another location simply press the next button and the GPS device will automatically load the next closest cahce
  • Not only does the location of the nearest cache appear, but other important details also are displayed, such as the Geocaching.com ID code, the terrain, difficulty rating, and the size of the cache
  • Has a “Home” waypoint that will assist you in returning to your point of origin
  • Displays compass heading, latitude and longitude
  • You can keep a log of all the caches that you have visted so far so that you don’t do the same cache twice if you don’t want to
  • The ability to add more caches at a point in the future (at an additional cost)
  • Powered for 12 hours on AAA batteries

The features that seem the nicest about the Geomate.jr is that the loading of the geocaches is automatic.  You don’t need to input the coordinates into your device yourself since they already exist within the memory.  This seems idealy suited to kids who might not be familiar with how to input some information into a handhelf GPS navigation device like the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator.

But I also think that this feature is also the biggest drawback to this device.  Without the ability to add your own caches to the device you run the risk of the Geomate.jr running out of caches for your child to go and find.  Do you really want to fork out money for cache updates that you could do for free on the more traditional handheld GPS?  I don’t think I would as long as my child was wise enough to be able to input coordinates into the GPS device themselves.

It is also pretty important to note that none of these devices are going to let you be able to track your kids with GPS.  Instead, they are just there for enterainment purposes.

What do you think, is the Geomate.jr worth buying or would you rather go with the Garmin eTrex H Handheld GPS Navigator?

GPS Tracking For Kids

Check out one of the smallest and most powerful GPS trackers for children: AmberAlert GPS

If you have ever found yourself wishing that you knew at any moment where your child was with an accuracy of up to 3 meters, then GPS tracking for kids might be something that you want to take a look at.  GPS has been around since the 80s when it was released for public use (before the Global Positioning Satellite system had been reserved solely for the military), but has only recently been made available for use by private persons for the tracking of the people closest to them – their children.

Before GPS tracking devices were simply too bulky to be of much use on a child – they were either too heavy to be safely and continuously carried, too large to be of much use for covert, safety oriented tracking, or they were too inaccurate to be of much help to consumers or their kids.  All this has changed in the last 5-10 years as technology has become increasingly smaller and more efficient.

Let me explain this with a similar bit of technological breakthrough that we have had in the same amount of time – namely that of computer storage. 10 years ago it would have a pipe dream to have a desktop computer with 160 GB of storage space – now iPods come with that much memory.  In the same way that computer technology in general has advanced so rapidly, GPS tracking technology has made leaps and bounds as well – becoming increasingly smaller, more power, more efficient, and more accurate.

All of these changes have been good for parents looking to keep tabs on their children with a technological solution.  But this begs the question, why should any child be tracked with GPS?

Reasons to Choose GPS Tracking For Kids

As far as I can tell, there are three main reasons to use GPS tracking for your kids: safety concerns, behavior problems, and paranoia.

Safety is probably the main reason most parents are going to want to use GPS to keep tabs on their children.  They want something that will quickly and accurately locate their child at a moments notice.  Is the child supposed to be at home but hasn’t been heard from in over an hour?  Are they supposed to be at Tim’s house to hang out after school and do some homework but a call to Tim’s parents reveals that your child never arrived?  Do you worry that something could happen to your child as they wait for you after baseball practice in the park by the canyon?  If any of these situations have happened to you then you know that you wish there was some way to find out where you child is right away.  GPS tracking for kids can provide accurate and reliable information for you in a way that is actionable and useful.

Take a moment and imagine that your child did not come home on time like you were expecting, fear is gripping you as you wait by the window for their arrival.  It could be that they simply hung around too long after school playing tether ball with their friends or took too long in the park as they cut across it on their way home.  You want to find out where your daughter is right now.  You run to your computer and you log in to your child’s GPS tracking watch provider to get a look at their position.  Your heart breathes a sigh of relief as you see that they are on their way home traveling at 2 mph about 2 blocks from home – they must have lingered too long at the park.

Now imagine that same situation where you find that your child is traveling 65 mph on a major highway heading away from home?  You’d dial 911 in an instant and you could be able to give the police some seriously useful information that would likely lead to the recovery of your child – all thanks to a GPS tracking device in your child’s backpack.

Another important reason to use GPS tracking for kids in some circumstance is behavioral problems or mental disabilities.  A child that is prone to wander because they suffer from some sort of behavioral or mental disorder is someone that you want to find and find quickly.  Short trips to the supermarket, or family vacations, or even simple trips to the park can become living nightmares as you search frantically for the child that has wandered off and slipped out of your site.  Child locators, a certain type of GPS tracking device, work great in this situation where quick feedback without the use of computer is necessary.  They are not always the best solution for families since they do have some issues and cell phones are becoming internet capable in a big way – making the obstacle of internet access to use location information much smaller.

And the final reason to get a GPS device to track your child is because you are paranoid and need to find someway to calm your own fears just a little bit.  The fact is that the vast majority of children have no need for GPS tracking.  They will go through their lives and never need the safety of always having their location just a moment away from being known by their parent.  Running a little late, being alone at a park after baseball practice, and playing hooky with a friend instead of being where they are supposed to be are all  normal activities for kids to be doing at some point in their life.  You probably did the same thing and your parents didn’t need a GPS device to keep tabs on you.

However, if you are person who works in Mexico City or some other place that routinely has kidnappings then it might be a good idea to get a GPS tracking device for your children so that when Man on Fire happens to you and your family, your Denzel Washington will be able to kick the crap out of the bad kidnappers who stole your Dakota Fanning.

Now that we have established three legitimate reasons to go out and purchase some sort of GPS tracking device for your child, it  begs the question, “What devices can I get that will provide GPS tracking for kids?”

Device That Use GPS Tracking For Kids

There are three main devices that you are going to find around the web and in stores that will assist you in keeping tabs on your child: gps tracking watches, covert GPS trackers, and kids GPS phones.

GPS tracking watches are a small, reliable, and kid friendly option for parents seeking to use GPS tracking with their children.  These devices are exactly what their name sounds like – they are a GPS tracking device that fits on the wrist of your child.  There are a couple of different brands available, but none of them are household names (certainly not Garmin, TomTom, or Magellan if that is what you were hoping for – though Garmin does offer a fitness GPS watch).  Some of the watches look a little funky, but in general they do provide you with what you are expecting.

In general, a GPS watch for kids is going to look a little bulky on their wrist, have some extravagantly ugly colors, and will probably throw up warning signals to any would be villain to get rid of the watch ASAP.  These devices are probably not as easy at GPS phones to get your child to use, but being attached at the wrist may make them less likely to be randomly lost.

The next option for parents to consider is covert GPS tracking for kids.  Again, there are a variety of different implementations to consider when going the covert route.  Do I go with a GPS in the shoe, teddy bear, coat, or backpack?  Do I go with a build in device or do I find something that I sew or attach myself?  How you answer these questions will determine what product you purchase.

The amount of information that you are going to get with a more covert approach to tracking is the same as what you would find with a a tracking watch, but the idea is that these covert trackers will escape detection for a very significant period of time.  If the device is hidden well enough in a “necessary” piece of equipment or apparel then you are almost certain that you will be able to find your child in any and all circumstances.

And finally, we have kids GPS phones.  These are kids cell phones that have integrated GPS technology so that they can get an accurate read on the phones position under almost any circumstance provided that the phone is on.

This combination of cell phone and GPS technology is very powerful.  A GPS signal will be able to give position information if the phone cannot use cell towers to establish a location, and cell towers can establish a location when a direct line of site with the sky has been obstructed by a car trunk, cement wall, or mound of dirt.  The cell phones power is in its usability in almost every circumstance.

This power is also its greatest weakness when considering it as a GPS tracking device for kids.  Everyone and there mother knows that cell phones can be used to communicate position information to the authorities.  This means that it is often the first thing to go if your child is in an emergency situation.  Kids GPS cell phones must be kept quiet and used very wisely by your child if it is to be effective at recovering them from something horrible.

In most normal conditions, kids GPS phones are great because they also let you talk directly with your child.  If they are late coming home, simply call them and ask them where they are – if what they tell you is different from what you computer is saying then you can deal with your child as you see fit.  The power to do so is now in your hands.

A Final Word On GPS Tracking For Kids

One thing that I haven’t mentioned yet but is very pertinent to our discussion here is the GPS tracking for kids costs money.  You are going to have to go in up front for a tracking device (whether it is a GPS tracking watch, covert GPS tracking device, or a kids GPS phone) and you are probably going to be hit with a reoccurring service charge every month to be able to use the tracking capability on the device.  This can add up to big money for a family already strapped for cash.

My advice is to think very carefully about using GPS tracking for kids and to only use it if it makes real sense given your family’s unique set of circumstances.

GPS Tracking In Cell Phone Recovers Missing Child

The other day I was reading some news and stumbled upon a story that had a lot to do with what I talk about here – GPS for kids. On January 3, 2009 Natalie Maltais, a 9-year-old, was abducted. Four days later, with the assistance of GPS, a cell phone, and Google Maps little Natalie was found by authorities who returned her safe and sound to her legal guardians.

There were a lot of interesting things about this article that can teach of some pretty significant things about the use of GPS tracking in recovering out missing children. Some of the more interesting quotes from the article include:

Since the end of 2005, cell phone carriers have been required to provide some way to trace calls to 100 meters or less. To accomplish this, global positioning technology has been integrated in cell phone handsets.

and

Officer Neale … contacted the child’s cell phone provider seeking a way to trace the call.

The company provided him with GPS coordinates every time the phone was activated.

If you want to read the full story you can find it at the following url:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090107/NEWS/901070289/1116

Lessons About Kids and GPS

This story clearly demonstrates a few key elements of GPS use in abduction situations that should be mentioned.  The first is this – teach your child how to use their cell phone properly in an emergency situation like an abduction.  You can do this by telling your child to do the following:

  1. Keep the cell phone in a secure, hidden location at all times.  Letting an abductor know about the location of a phone is a sure fire way to get in taken away or destroyed.  When in danger, the phone will provide a very safe connect to the outside world.  It will let the police and parents know where a child is – possibly saving their life.
  2. Keep the cell phone quiet.  Again, avoiding detection is the most important thing you can do with your cell phone.  If your ringer goes off or your phone beeps every few minutes because you got a voice mail your phone is going to be found out and taken away.  At the first sign of danger, put the phone on mute and secure it.
  3. Keep the cell phone on. This is very important because this is the only way that the police can use the mobile phone to hone in on your location and to set you free.  An “on” phone is key to your continued safety.

In addition to these proactive steps, you might also want to give your child the following advice:

  1. If there is any doubt if it is safe enough to use the phone, don’t use it.  Wait until you are very certain that you will not be discovered.
  2. Call the police before you call anyone else.  They are best equipped to help you get out of your situation safely.

In addition to these tips on how to use a kids GPS phone successfully, I also noticed some interesting information about child abductions in general.  In this instance, the child was taken by someone they knew – their grandmother.  In the majority of child abductions, children are taken by a close relative.

I am not sure about this particular family’s history, but it sounds like the legal guardians of little Natalie Maltais were not her biological parents.  There must have been some sort of row between the guardians and Natalie’s biological grandmother about how Natalie was being raised.  This argument must have then resulted in the kidnapping of the girl to “save her” from her situation.

In the end, what we really learn from this is that GPS for kids only really works if the children themselves are educated in the use of their tracking devices.  Without the child being an active participant devices can be easily discovered and destroyed by unscrupulous individuals.  It doesn’t matter if it is a GPS tracking watch, a kids GPS phone, or a child locator – if the device is found it is going to be taken.

If you are looking for what program you can download for free onto your child’s cell phone then please take a look at some of the free cell phone trackers that are available for a wide range of mobile phones. There are new apps coming out all the time that could be leveraged to keep your family safe with something as terrible as this were to ever happen to you. Just remember that keeping safe is the number one priority for you child in this situation so keeping the phone on and hidden as long as possible is key.

Child Locators

Child locators are devices that contain GPS or radio technology that can communicate a child’s location to their parent.  Generally speaking, devices that work over short distances use radio technology while devices that work over long distances make use of GPS.  The short range tracking devices often have a receiver that will provide the parent with instant feedback on their child’s location while the longer range devices often require some sort of interface to access the GPS tracking information.

There are obvious pros and cons to each device type that parents should consider before deciding which one will best fit their child’s needs.

Short Range Child Locators

Brickhouse Security Child LocatorShort range child locators are excellent because they provide instant feedback for parents.  The device to the right is from Brickhouse Security, the company featured in a Duracell commercial found on cable television.  This child tracker provides parents holding the unit in the center with the general direction and distance of their son or daughter who is equipped with the device pictured on the left.

These devices can be great for use at parks or other very public, very crowded locations where kids of all ages can easily get lost in the mass of people. All it takes is a split second for you to get distracted and your child to step through a crowd and be out of view. Most times children are simply looking at something interesting, but the feeling in your chest is one of complete panic.

Short range child locators are designed specifically to help parents find their children in this type of circumstance. The child is within a few hundred feet of the parent, they are in some way obstructed from view by terrain or crowds, and the chances of being separated from your child for a long period of time is relatively low – all of which lends itself to quick location information that points you in the right direction immediately.

These types of child locators do have some drawbacks. Most of these kid tracking devices are limited in range. According to the specifications on the child locator mentioned above provided by BrickHouse Security, the child tracking device is only effective up to ranges of 600 feet outdoors and 250 indoors. While this is more than sufficient for a wandering child who slips out of sight momentarily, it is frighteningly insufficient for tracking your child while you are at work or while they are at a friends house.

Another potential drawback is the fact that you need to keep the monitor with you at all times if you want to check in with your kid’s location. This probably will not bother too many parents, but you already have a camera, a phone, keys, a wallet, a purse, etc. carrying an extra thing around can be a little inconvenient.

When it comes down to it though short range child locators do a great job at giving concerned parents a quick and accurate vector on their child’s location.

Long Range Child Locators

When you think of a long range child locator it is best to think of GPS. This is not always the case (see kids GPS phones), but in these instances the child locator acts just like it had GPS technology in it in the sense that you can estimate the location of your son or daughter to within a few meters.

Long range child locators provide exactly what you might expect from them – the ability to track your kid from one end of town to the next.  By using GPS or cell phone technology these devices provide very accurate and very useful information to parents such as the direction of your child.  They can also allow parents to track a teen while driving (this is good for making sure the teen’s driving habits  are good and that they don’t speed).  This could be the key in determining if your child is as safe as you would want them to be.

These type of locators generally work the following way –

  1. The GPS unit receives signals from the Global Positioning Satellites orbit the sky over head
  2. The device then takes that information and “pushes” it out via radio signals to a central processing station (this is why these devices are called data pushers)
  3. The central processing station interprets this data and makes it available to you through some sort of application – usually an online interface (a website where you can get the information)

The benefit to this type of system is that you can access the information anywhere you have access to the internet.  Your home, office, local library, a coffee shop, or any place you can get cell reception if you have a cell phone with internet access can provide you information on your child’s location.

This is particularly powerful in those emergency situations that no parent ever wants to find themselves in.  If something terrible were to happened at your kid’s school, or a natural disaster strike while your child is at a friends house, or your teen doesn’t show up to the house at curfew all you would need to do is get to a internet enable device and you could see exactly where they are in the time it takes to get on the internet.  In some cases, that lightening quick information could be the difference between life and death.

It is also one of the biggest drawbacks of these long range devices.

Situations where the short range child locators flourish are terribly impractical for the longer range counterparts.  A kids GPS cell phone or even a GPS kids watch simply will not do at a crowded amusement park if you have to go back to the hotel room to get on the internet.  You want to find your child and you want to find them now.

It seems hard to imagine loosing sight of your child in a crowded place and taking out your cell phone, getting on the internet, entering your login credentials for your child locator subscription, finding out that your child is somewhere at Disneyland, trying to find out exactly where at Disneyland they are, and then heading off in that direction to hope to find them.  What you need in that instance is to know exactly which direction to start looking right away.

Child Locators in Summary

As you can see, there are different uses for and different benefits received from child locator devices.  Here is a quick reference chart of the various pros and cons associated with each type of device:

ProsCons
Short Range Child Locator
  • Great for public, open spaces
  • Instant feedback on child’s location
  • One time purchase fee
  • Limited Range
  • Another device to carry around
  • Most require batteries
Long Range Child Locator
  • Excellent for long range, from a distance tracking
  • Tracking information accessible from anywhere with an internet connection
  • Monthly fee in the range of a cell phone subscription
  • Inefficient for quick, short range information

It is important to note that one device isn’t necessarily better than the other – it all depends on the way you want to use the locator.  In some family circumstances, a long range, GPS device is going to best fit the needs of parent and child.  In others the shorter range child locator is going to be what is best for everyone.

In the end, only you can make the decision on what type of chid locator works best for your family.

Kids GPS Phone: A Brief Introduction

We all know cell phones are here to stay. You can’t walk 10 feet in any public place without seeing some parent, child, or teen talking on their cell phone. You can even go to ‘poor’ countries and find that many people have access to this type of wireless communication. But have you ever heard of a kids GPS phone that is designed specifically to help parents keep tabs on their children?

A few years ago, cellular phone companies found out that busy parents needed a solution to their business problem. With the pressures of work and the need to get things done around the house, get kids to their activities, make dinner, and be sure that they have money for their future parents realized that they weren’t giving their children the time that they deserved. As a result of this they developed types of cell phones that have been labeled ‘kid phones’ for the functionality made specific for children of a young age.

Kids GPS Cell PhoneThese phones generally have certain features that make them particularly useful for small children.  One of them is that they often have the regular number pad removed.  This is replaced by a speed dial pad.  This helps your child on two levels:

  1. They do not have to memorize telephone numbers at all. While most children are very good at memorization as early as the age of 4, so you are not having them memorize your cell phone number because they are not able too. But in the heat of an emergency a child’s brain might not be able to hand the recalling the seven digits that make up your phone number. By reducing it to a simple speed dial you are giving your child’s mind the ability to remember that “One equals Mommy” or that “The red button equals the police man.”
  2. By keeping your child’s phone to the simple speed dial options you reduce the risk of them using the cellular device for non-necessary reasons. You don’t your child to have access to all the internet, text messaging, and camera features that a regular cell phone might have. They simply don’t need all of that. You want them to be able to give you call in case of an emergency or if they need to be picked up from school. That is all.

The speed dial feature on kids phone seems to be the focal point of most the phone design.  The screens are often just big enough to display who you are calling and if the call is connecting or not.  Then there is the are the ‘send’ and ‘end’ buttons.  These are generally large and obvious for your child.

For many years these types of devices have been being utilized by parents to help ‘keep in touch’ with their children while parents go about their busy lives.  During this same period of time, we have also seen an explosion in GPS technology in consumer electronics.  The trickle down effect has finally made its way into cell phones and specifically created a new class of phone: the kids GPS phone.

Understanding Kids GPS Phones

Cell phones and GPS technology are very similar in nature.  With GPS, a signal containing relevant position information is transmitted from a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. As more and more signals reach a GPS receiver, the computer inside the device is able to calculate the position of the receiver using the information provided by the satellites and a mathematical process called trilateration. (For more information see our article on how GPS tracking watches work.)

Cell phones are very similar. They receive signals from cell towers that often dot the urban landscape in a type honeycomb pattern. These signals tell the cell phone that they are in service, how strong that cellular service is (i.e. how many ‘bars’ do you have?), and whether or not you are accepting calls at the moment (is the phone on or off?). When you talk with your phone, it is really acting like a very complex walkie-talkie where what you hear is being transmitted to you on one channel while what you say is being broadcast over another channel.

One interesting side effect that this has is that phones can be used as a tracking device even if they don’t have GPS enabled. This is because the cell towers can measure how long it takes to get a response back from your cell phone between the different towers in your area. Once it has this information, it can use it in conjunction with the known position of all the cell towers to find your general location. Now this is probably not as accurate as a GPS phone, but it is still pretty accurate.

This similarity between the workings of GPS and cell phones made them obvious candidates for integration into a single device: thus the GPS phone was born.  The most common application of this type of phone is found in the ubiquitously necessary navigation system.  Turn by turn direction and road maps seem to be all the rave these days and cell phone companies saw a market that they wanted to tap into.  This was definitely the first use of GPS in cell phones.  (Though it is important to note that not all phones with navigation capabilities have GPS enabled on them – the simply might have it available because of the location information available from cell towers.)

Eventually some executive or engineer decided to implement the GPS feature on the kids phones that they were already developing.  Perhaps it could be a good way to upsell some parents and get them to subscribe to more services while offering them an improved experience and more functionality.  Either way, parents might want it and cell phone providers were going to give them kids GPS phones.

These devices take advantage of both the cell phone and GPS technology that their small plastic cases contain.   Unlike a kids GPS tracking watch, kids GPS phones are able to penetrate areas that can often be hidden from the watchful eye of the Global Positioning Satellites orbiting overhead.  These areas often have some type of obstructed view of the sky overhead – such as a heavily wooded area or building – but can have access to a cell signal.  While the location information is significantly less accurate when based on information provided from the cell portion of the kids GPS cell phone, it is still better than nothing all.

Another key feature of these GPS devices is that they are also cell phones.  While some GPS watches for children also have this capability as well, many child locators do not.  There is something powerful in knowing that you can reach out and call your child whenever you are concerned about their whereabouts or safety.  It is also nice to know that they can turn around and call you as well if ever they are worried or concerned.  You are never more than a phone call away.

Plans and prices for the kids GPS cell phone are fairly reasonable if you are serious about having this type of capability in something that you already have your child using anyway.  You probably will not have to use it very often (most parents never need to), but if you feel like it will give you some peace of mind and supplement the safety of your family there is certainly some quality providers out there who can provide a kids GPS phone to meet your needs.

Parents also have the option of leveraging current cell phones and turning them into tracking devices for free. Just download one of the many cell phone trackers out on the market and you can instantly turn a normal cell phone into a power tracking device. Just be sure that you have the data plan to cover it since this type of activity can be data heavy. But if you are already paying for a data plan why not make the most of it and install a tracker on your kids cell phone?

GPS Kids Watch

Have you ever thought what you would have done with a GPS kids watch when you were growing up?  I know I have.  It probably would have been on of the coolest things in the world to be able to know that your parents could know at any minute exactly where you were, all thanks to that wonderful GPS kids watch on your wrist.

I remember that when I was in Kindergarten being at church one Sunday with my spiffy Thunder Cats kids watch.  I thought it had this special power that when I pushed a certain button it would call my brothers and we could chat with each other during Sunday School.  I even tried it a few times believing that I could actually hear them and talk back.  We were having our own little secret communications.

Well, those childhood thoughts are now a present reality.  A kids GPS watch is able to do exactly what my childhood mind fantasized about.  At the click of a button, a parent or child will be able to communicate with the other through the modern marvel of GPS cell phone technology.  All I wanted to do with my Thunder Cats kids watch was to talk with my brothers, but now in the case of an emergency a parent can activate the watch and communicate directly with their child.  The peace of mind that this can afford a parent is pretty fantastic.

They will know that if there ever were an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, flood, or other natural disaster while they were at work and the child at school that they would be no more than a click of a kids GPS watch away from talking to their child – providing the calming voice of reason that a parent should be. Sure, this type of peace of mind could be available on a cell phone, but chances are younger children could be irresponsible with a cell phone or it could be lost or not on their person when the emergency strikes.

If they are out on the playground, their kids GPS phone won’t do them much good when it is in the classroom in their backpack. The children won’t be able to return to get their backpacks and will be taken directly to the safest place for them to be – either in the multipurpose room or the playground away from buildings. With a GPS for kids watch you won’t run into this problem as the device that allows you both to contact your child and to let them know that everything is going to be okay will always be attached to their wrist.

Bulky GPS Kids Watch May Draw Unwanted Attention From Other KidsThere is some potential danger when it comes to this type of kids GPS device – namely ridicule.  GPS kids watches can be a little bulky and offer some useful but cumbersome wrist lockdown technology that will prevent your child from taking off the watch (or in the worst case scenario, a predator from taking off the watch).  Both of these combined may make the GPS tracking watch stick out with your child’s classmates.  Any problems with this can easily be avoided if you take some very proactive steps with your child.

The first step is to teach your child about GPS.  They need to know a little bit about how it works in order for it to make some sense in the way that they look at the world.  An older child can obviously handle a little more of the technical information, but a little child needs to know more about the basics and safety that they can feel when wearing it.

Let your kid know that their watch is like a child locator that lets mommy and daddy know exactly where they are if something were to happen.  Tell them that if they needed help all they would have to do it touch that button on their GPS kids watch and they could hear mommy’s or daddy’s voice that would be able to tell them exactly what they should do.  Also tell them that their GPS tracking watch can be used by you to know exactly where they were, so if they ever felt scared or lost they wouldn’t have to worry as long as they had their watch on because you could always see where they were because the watch knew how to tell mommy and daddy exactly where they are.

This will help let your child know that their kids GPS makes them safe.

Then you can embellish things a little and give them the fantasies that I had when I was a little kid and that you might have had too.

Build up the power and mystery of the watch and make it into this great peace of adventure that they can experience every day.  Let them know that the watch is like a small kids tracker that you have put on their wrist to always be able to tell exactly where they are.  This will help keep them safe as we have already discussed, but it is also about helping them have amazing adventures with their GPS .

One day, make a log of what activities they do when they are out in the world and you are at work.  After your child and you come home make it your goal to go over the map that you made using your child’s GPS kids watch with your child.  Let them know how much you love them and have a ton of fun talking with your child, giggling, asking them questions about their day, and making them feel so special to you.  Your child needs you before they need any GPS for kids.

After they feel special because you are giving them your time and effort, reinforce the GPS tracking watch that they wear by letting them know that you were able to record their adventures today like you did because of that watch.  Tell them that that child locator has the power to tell mommy and daddy exactly where they are every single day while they are at school and on the playground and in the lunch room and on the bus home from school.  Let them know that the watch provides GPS tracking for kids to mommy and daddy and that mommy and daddy like this very much.

This will help make your child like to wear the GPS kids watch and if they like thier GPS kids watch they will be able to deflect any criticism that might come their way at school.  If they don’t like it and someone makes a joke about it they will be less able to deal with the emotional problem this brings up.  They will feel ashamed and not like wearing their kids tracking device.

But if they like it, when someone makes a joke about it they can respond with confidence and assert just how great their watch really is.  GPS is nothing to be ashamed about, especially because of the safety and peace of mind that it provides.  No school yard teasing should come in the way of that.

If you are interested in more ideas on how to help your child appreciate their GPS kids watch we have two articles on this subject at GPS For Today.  The first is Getting Your Child To Wear Their Kids GPS Tracking Watch – The Power of Fun and it is about one way to draw your child in to loving their GPS tracking watch. The second is GPS Kid Tracking Tip – Adventure is King which explores the potential that tapping into your child’s love for adventure can do for getting them to wear their GPS kids watch.

Image by Matt Honan

GPS Kid Tracking Tip – Adventure is King

Kids have a flare for adventure, especially boys. Put any boy in a room with a variety of toys they will eventually find themselves turning something into a weapon of some kind or imagining they are one of their favorite heroes from a book, TV show, or movie. Boys are born for adventure. For the wise parent, this often misunderstood quality can be harnessed into you most important asset in keeping your child safe. It is also a great way to get them to wear their GPS tracking device. The trick is to work with their adventuring spirit rather than try to snuff it out and turn them into little girls.

Cultivating the Adventurer Within

Boys want to be special. They want to be seen as strong and courageous. There is something deep within them that longs to be filled with adventure. As a parent, you can lovingly guide them toward this in a safe and controlled way by utilizing a GPS kids device. After all, you want them to be safer in the event that the unthinkable would occur.

The best way to get your child to buy into using their GPS tracking device is to associate it with adventure. You can do this in any number of ways, depending on what particular flavor of adventurer your child likes. Do they love Indiana Jones? Any good modern day archaeologist uses GPS extensively, often employing multiple devices get measurements within 5 cm. Are they a fan of the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers? No good Ranger goes without a locater so the rest of squad knows exactly where he is and can run to his aid when a foe approaches. Transformers, Bob the Builder, even Dora the Explorer all ‘use’ GPS for their needs. By associating the GPS with their favorite adventurer and offering them a chance to do the same you are using a built in incentive to using the device – getting to be like their hero.

GPS Kids Devices Are Made For Adventure

Now that you have spoken with your child about the device and wowed them with the association you made with their favorite adventurer it is time to reinforce the relationship between their GPS device and fun/adventure. You can do this in any number of ways. Take your child on a walk around the park while you go on an “adventure with them.” Be sure to bring a GPS device of your own with you. It can be your GPS tracking watch or Blackberry. A Blackberry or other internet enabled cell phone might be a better choice because that way you can access your tracking service associated with your child’s device.

On your adventure stop at some point and make a reference to ‘needing’ to find exactly where you are at – to call in reinforcements, or to log the location of a valuable item, or to mark you way home. Take out your phone and access your real-time tracking service, displaying a map of your location. Show this to you child and let them know that you will be able to get this information at any time as long as they have their GPS device with them. You can do this a few more times if it will make your adventure together more interesting and fun for the both of you.

By now your child should have had a good experience with you and their GPS kids device. If you want to, and you probably will because it was so much fun, you can always re-create this type of adventure scenario to acclimate your child to their device. This will help the child think positively about GPS technology and will help them be more aware of their device, thus reducing the risk of them losing it.

Some Additional Kids GPS Considerations

In addition to using the a GPS tracking device, teach your child regular safety information. All the GPS training will do little good if they don’t know the basics. Avoid using fear as motivation for you child. It will turn out badly for them and for you. Instead, use positive thoughts, images, and incentives to achieve the behavior you are desiring. Your child will be healthier emotionally and they will probably do a better job meeting your expectations than if you used fear based tactics.

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Getting Your Child To Wear Their Kids GPS Tracking Watch – The Power of Fun