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AW For Young Child?

K

kapolani

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2011
268
559
USA
Hello!

I made the mistake of showing my daughter my AW2 and how Mickey and Minnie will tell you the time.

Big mistake! She wants one for Christmas, now.

I plan on getting here a series one or possible zero, refurbished.

Do they make bands that will fit small children?

Anyone with young children (6 yo) want to chime in?

TIA!
 
kapolani said:
Hello!

I made the mistake of showing my daughter my AW2 and how Mickey and Minnie will tell you the time.

Big mistake! She wants one for Christmas, now.

I plan on getting here a series one or possible zero, refurbished.

Do they make bands that will fit small children?

Anyone with young children (6 yo) want to chime in?

TIA!
Click to expand...

are you also planning to buy her an iphone?

perhaps learn how to say no, or teach her to want age-appropriate gifts?
 
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My kids are a little older now, but I can't imagine a 6 year old remembering to charge it every day. Also, there is a good chance she will lose it (my daughter lost a cheap watch very quickly at that age). Also, the functionality would probably be lost if she just used it as a watch. I bet she would be just as happy with a kids Mickey Mouse watch.
 
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Nolander07 said:
Also, there is a good chance she will lose it (my daughter lost a cheap watch very quickly at that age).
Click to expand...

this. a family friend bought their 5 year old an ipod touch back when they were a thing. he lost it within a couple of months.
 
I got my first watch when I started elementary school -- I was 7, I believe. I never lost any of my watches. It depends on the child, and whether they are taught to take good care of their things.

As for band size, that could be a problem. The one that would fit the smallest wrist is the Nike+ band. I believe Apple says it fits wrists as small as 130 mm. But that band isn't currently sold separately. Knock offs are starting to appear in eBay.

The real problem is, as other posters have mentioned, the watch needs to be paired with an iPhone to function. You can pair more than one watch to an iPhone, but the system assumes only one Watch will be worn at a time. I'm not sure what happens if you try to wear both watches at once, much less what happens if two different people are wearing them at the same time.
[doublepost=1478786801][/doublepost]
kapolani said:
She has an iPad mini that I won from work that has LTE.

Perhaps you can raise your child the way you want and I can raise mine how I see fit?
Click to expand...

Watch doesn't work with iPads.
 
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I would only get her a refurbished one - if the price is right.

Agree with the possibility of losing it. Probably wouldn't let her wear it to school.

Santa doesn't have to get it for her. I'm exploring the possibility.
 
Night Spring said:
I got my first watch when I started elementary school -- I was 7, I believe. I never lost any of my watches. It depends on the child, and whether they are taught to take good care of their things.

As for band size, that could be a problem. The one that would fit the smallest wrist is the Nike+ band. I believe Apple says it fits wrists as small as 130 mm. But that band isn't currently sold separately. Knock offs are starting to appear in eBay.

The real problem is, as other posters have mentioned, the watch needs to be paired with an iPhone to function. You can pair more than one watch to an iPhone, but the system assumes only one Watch will be worn at a time. I'm not sure what happens if you try to wear both watches at once, much less what happens if two different people are wearing them at the same time.
[doublepost=1478786801][/doublepost]

Watch doesn't work with iPads.
Click to expand...

Great info!

Didn't research whether it could be paired with the iPad. Just assumed.

She's too young for an iPhone so that isn't going to happen.

She doesn't get everything she wants so she will have to deal with it.
[doublepost=1478787035][/doublepost]
deeddawg said:
Don't post on a public forum asking for others opinions if you're unable to tolerate someone disagreeing with you.

​
Click to expand...

I can accept that.

But, asked for band sizes, not for someone to inject their parenting point of view.

People disagree with me all the time. I don't get triggered and think safe spaces are for wimps.
 
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kapolani said:
But, asked for band sizes, not for someone to inject their parenting point of view.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the Internet. People state their points of view above and beyond the asked question(s). It's been like that since pretty much forever; it certainly happened on Usenet in the era before Al Gore invented the Internet, so no surprise that it continues to happen today.

(and strictly speaking, you asked an open question in addition to your question as to band sizing even if that was not your intent)
 
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kapolani said:
Didn't research whether it could be paired with the iPad. Just assumed.
Click to expand...

Yes, you'd think it'd work with iPads, but no. :(

I had to give my mom my old iPhone so she could use the watch. She is now loving both, but I think she'd prefer to use an iPad mini with the watch if she could.

Just in case anybody else is interested in band size, I checked, and Apple rates both the regular Sports band and the Nike+ band as fitting wrists starting at 130mm. However, the Nike band has more holes, so that means it goes smaller than 130mm. But if your wrists are that small, it's possible the Watch body itself wouldn't sit comfortably on your wrist. So try before you buy.
 
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kapolani said:
She has an iPad mini that I won from work that has LTE.

Perhaps you can raise your child the way you want and I can raise mine how I see fit?
Click to expand...

kapolani said:
Great info!

Didn't research whether it could be paired with the iPad. Just assumed.

She's too young for an iPhone so that isn't going to happen.

She doesn't get everything she wants so she will have to deal with it.
[doublepost=1478787035][/doublepost]

I can accept that.

But, asked for band sizes, not for someone to inject their parenting point of view.

People disagree with me all the time. I don't get triggered and think safe spaces are for wimps.
Click to expand...

Funny how you think i'm judging you as a parent for wanting to buy a sub $200 watch, not reasonably assuming you wouldn't accessorise it with a $500+ iphone that it wouldn't work so well without...

with regards to the idea of pairing it to one phone (yours) as a second watch, that could work but only if you have only one yourself. you would need to do a few things:
  • disable auto switching, which will mean your watch will always connect to your phone and the other watch will never do so. it will still be able to connect to the internet over wifi.
  • disable every type of notification on your child's watch. i'm sure you don't want imessages popping up on her watch face, and you probably dont want her replying some random thoughts via siri to your boss's important email. you can't disable these features completely, and the watch will connect to wifi so she'll have limited access to these. stopping notifications is the best you can do to shield yourself from any mishaps.
  • phone - depends if you have wifi calling on your network. if so, on wifi, every time you get a phone call it'll buzz on her wrist as well as yours. no way around it other than turning it off entirely on your iphone (if thats possible?)
  • occasional maintenance of your iphone's "health" app to make sure her activity data isn't overwriting yours. shouldn't be an issue until you actually connect to the watch via bluetooth. when you do, you can delete everything it adds in one click if accuracy of the data is your thing (it's mine).
is it the mickey and minnie visuals or the sounds she likes?
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Night Spring said:
However, the Nike band has more holes, so that means it goes smaller than 130mm.
Click to expand...

Not true. The smallest hole on the 38mm S/M band is barely usable as it is, as so much of the band has to tuck through and it almost meets the case. any holes further up on the nike band will create issues with overlap.
 
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Night Spring said:
the Nike band has more holes, so that means it goes smaller than 130mm.
Click to expand...

I see why you might think that, but it turns out the reality is different.

I just took my 42mm Nike+ with the S/M band and tested/measured it.

The tightest it will go is the 140mm spec for the 42mm. You can't fasten the peg any closer to the other side of the watch body even though there are two more holes due to the material around the peg.

So... since there's no reason to believe the 38mm version would behave differently it'd be best to assume the 130mm minimum is real even on the Nike+ models.
 
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nicho said:
Not true. The smallest hole on the 38mm S/M band is barely usable as it is, as so much of the band has to tuck through and it almost meets the case. any holes further up on the nike band will create issues with overlap.
Click to expand...

deeddawg said:
I see why you might think that, but it turns out the reality is different.

I just took my 42mm Nike+ with the S/M band and tested/measured it.

The tightest it will go is the 140mm spec for the 42mm. You can't fasten the peg any closer to the other side of the watch body even though there are two more holes due to the material around the peg.

So... since there's no reason to believe the 38mm version would behave differently it'd be to assume the 130mm minimum is real even on the Nike+ models.
Click to expand...

I compared my Nike band and the regular sports band (I have it on my old S0), and the 38 mm Nike band does go slightly smaller than the regular band by what would be half a notch on the regular band. And yes, I checked for overlap.
 
Does she want the apple watch because of what it can do or does she just want minnie and mickey mouse because there are tons of disney watches out there. Seems like a waste of money to me but your money your child.
 
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CarlJ said:
Clearly you need to get your mom a iPhone 6+/6s+/7+ :D
Click to expand...

Ha! I currently have a 6s+, so I might pass that on to her the next time I upgrade. Though if Apple ever allows the watch to work with iPads, I might try using it with a mini myself.
 
kapolani said:
I made the mistake of showing my daughter my AW2 and how Mickey and Minnie will tell you the time.
...
Do they make bands that will fit small children?

Anyone with young children (6 yo) want to chime in?
Click to expand...
I made sort of the same "mistake" too, showed my 5 yo niece Mickey and Minnie (even before they acquired their voices in watchOS 3), and now she likes to set my watch to Mickey when we hang out (I pick her up from school occasionally) and for a while she seemed genuinely mystified as to why anyone would use any other watch face. She also delighted in showing her not-quite-2 yo sister, who repeatedly exclaims "mo Mickey!", and then reluctantly agrees "Mickey all gone", when I switch it to another watch face (to deter further distraction - there was one family dinner where I had to take the watch off and put it in my pocket, because she kept staring across the table eagerly waiting for Mickey to come back). I've let my 5 yo niece "wear" my Apple Watch a few times (wear in quotes because I basically have to be sitting there pinching the two halves of the strap together behind her wrist - there's no chance of fastening it). Her wrist is small enough that it's not just the length of the strap (you could presumably buy a knockoff sports strap, trim the length, and even punch an extra hole or two), but the flexibility of the strap also poses a bit of a limitation, as does the space needed for the closure mechanism. I've poked around 3rd party bands a bunch (have a few myself) and haven't seen any sized for children (if I did, it would be worth $15 for a child-sized knockoff sports band, to let her have the experience of walking around wearing my watch, a few times - I like to indulge her interests in technology).

Here's the thing, though, she still loves making Mickey and Minnie talk sometimes, and delights in showing them to her little sister, but with nowhere near the fanaticism as there was a month and a half ago. And Mickey and Minnie are pretty much a one-off thing - it's not like you can load other character watch faces if they get bored with them. An observation offered for what it's worth. On the other hand, she's still going strong with the folder of games I have on my phone for her - relentlessly educational things like Endless Wordplay and Moose Math, and, yeah, we play Pokemon Go together sometimes.
 
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The Sport bands with the watch come with a kids' size strap as an extra.
 
As has already been stated:
It cannot work without being paired to an iPhone.
The Apple OEM bands are most likely not small enough to fit the small wrist. Maybe an aftermarket band might work.

I have a 10 year old son and I would never consider an Apple Watch for him.
 
LiveM said:
The Sport bands with the watch come with a kids' size strap as an extra.
Click to expand...
They most certainly do not. If you'd ever actually looked (rather than just guessing and then offering that guess as a fact) you'd find the smaller strap is laughably oversized for many six year old's wrists. I use the smaller of the two straps, and you would not easily mistake me for kid sized. One could just as easily say the Sports Band comes with a normal-human size strap and a gorilla-sized strap as an extra.
 
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What's with all the unwanted parenting advice? If someone wants to get an Apple Watch for their child, that's none of your business. I suspect a lot of people here are too poor to afford that and so are lashing out at the OP
 
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