My five-year-old daughter has a smartwatch. Let me start there, because I know some parents will judge me for it, and honestly? I get it. I’ve judged myself a time or two.
I got it as a gift, and on trips to the park, when she zooms off toward the slide and disappears behind a climbing structure, I can glance at my phone and see that little dot on the map. She’s safe. She’s exactly where she should be. For a mom who’s spent five years perfecting the art of hyper-vigilance, that little dot is a gift. It shows you exactly where your kid is, even to the point of knowing exactly which floor of a building she’s on. We’ve barely touched any of the other features, though, and boy, there are a lot… For us, it’s purely a tracker, and on that front, it delivers exactly what I hoped for.
But here’s what I’ve noticed watching other families navigate these devices: the features you don’t use don’t just disappear. They sit there, dormant, waiting for the moment your child discovers them and, worse, gets addicted to them.
I’ve watched kids on the playground compare friend counts like they’re a playground commodity. “You only have three friends on your watch? I have fifteen!” It’s basically a pre-smart phone follower count culture for little kids. They’re comparing digital friend lists like teens compare social media followers. Except they don’t have the emotional maturity to understand why that feels lousy when you’re on the losing end. We spend years teaching our kids that friendship isn’t a numbers game, and then we strap a device to their wrist that turns it into exactly that.
I’ve overheard after-school calls between elementary school kids that went on far longer than any conversation between kids their age should. At that age, kids are still learning how to navigate friendships face-to-face. They need to spend time with their family after school. They don’t need the added complexity of unsupervised calls when no adult can hear what’s being said or guide the conversation.
And the photos. These watches make it effortless to snap and share pictures. I’m sure you’ve been to events where kids are holding up their wrists, recording like they’re in the old James Bond movies. But five-year-olds don’t understand privacy yet. They don’t yet understand that just because you can photograph someone doesn’t mean you should.
I worry about addiction, too. Not in the dramatic, “my child is glued to a screen” way, but I watch how other kids gravitate toward their watches. How they check them. It’s the same behavior I see in myself when my phone buzzes, and I don’t like seeing that loop start so early.
Here’s the truth I’m still sitting with: I’m not ready to take the watch away, because I’m not ready to give up that little dot on the map. The safety feature works exactly as advertised. It soothes a primal fear that lives in the back of every parent’s mind.
But I also don’t like what else came along for the ride.
So for now, we’re keeping it simple. The watch stays, at least until I figure out something better.
Maybe that’s the real work of parenting in 2026. Not choosing between technology and no technology, but figuring out how to hold both the safety and the complication and make peace with the fact that we’re all figuring it out as we go.
What are your thoughts on kids today and smartphones? Better yet, if you’ve got a better solution, don’t gate keep them to yourself!
