Watches for kids: a gift that comes with responsibility

What matters is not age but whether your child actually needs the time for something. Children usually learn to tell the time and to work with hours and minutes in their first years at school, so a child who has just started school is practising clocks in class — and a watch on the wrist gives them daily practice.

A good sign is when your child asks "what time is it?" or "how long until…?" on their own. For a preschooler who can't read a clock yet, a watch is little more than a bracelet — a sand timer or a light-up alarm clock that shows when it's OK to get up works better.

In practice it looks like this: 5–6 years an alarm clock or a light-up wake-up clock, 6–8 years a first analog watch, 8–10 years a digital or combined watch with a stopwatch and alarm, 10 and up possibly a smartwatch, if the family has a reason for one. For a child about to start school, you'll find more ideas in A gift for a child starting school.

A smartwatch with location tracking is really a small phone. In 2017 the Norwegian Consumer Council had several models tested by a security firm and found serious flaws: a stranger could take control of the watch, track the child's location, listen in and talk to the child. Alerts that the child had left a safe zone weren't reliable either.

That leaves three things to check before you wrap one up. First, who is behind the app and whether the maker releases updates. Second, whether you can set a list of approved numbers so that not just anyone can call the watch. Third, what the SIM costs and how long the battery lasts — a watch that dies by noon won't teach responsibility.

And one more question that's easy to miss with a gift: are you giving your child responsibility, or giving yourself peace of mind? A watch through which a parent tracks the location all the time mostly teaches that someone else is in charge. If you're buying it for a safer walk to school, agree with your child in advance when you'll check the location and when you won't. Also find out whether the school allows smartwatches during lessons at all.

A watch in a drawer is the most common end to this gift. Usually it isn't laziness — the child simply has no use for it, because an adult is still keeping the time for them. Go back to the job that came with the watch: once your child has to know when to leave the playground, they'll start glancing at their wrist.

The second reason is discomfort. A heavy case, a tight strap or a watch ticking by the bed at night all get put aside. Swapping the strap for a fabric hook-and-loop one solves most complaints.

And if the watch gets lost or broken? That's part of responsibility just as much as wearing it. That's why a cheaper model pays off for a first watch — your child should be learning to keep time, not worrying about an expensive object. Agree with your child whether the next watch comes out of their pocket money or as a birthday present. Both teach that things have value, just at a different pace.

With young children, responsibility is easier to "wear" inside a story. When your child gets a watch along with a book in which they, as the hero, manage a task against the clock, the new rule comes with a picture too. At Hero of the Book you can create a personalised book featuring your child's likeness from a single photo; the digital version costs $7.99 and is usually ready within 15 minutes — so it works even as a last-minute gift. You can add your own dedication to the book; for ideas, see Book dedications.