Kids are naturally curious and tend to get excited about sports, musical instruments, and all sorts of group activities. While you may appreciate their enthusiasm, you also likely have to balance your budget. I’ve learned over the years that paying for extracurriculars without breaking the bank is possible.
Where to Find Food If Your Children Are Going Hungry
More than 10 million children a year go hungry in the United States. These hungry children have trouble focusing in school, which puts them at an academic disadvantage. In addition, summer is often a difficult time for them because they don’t get regular meals from the schools as they do during the school year. During the pandemic, more children struggled to get an adequate amount of food. If this is a problem your family is facing, several agencies can help you find food if your children are going hungry.
Where to Find Food If Your Children Are Going Hungry
Many different agencies offer programs that can help your children if you know where to look.
Local Food Bank
If you’re experiencing a temporary food shortage, consider visiting your local food bank. You should receive enough food for a week or two, which should be enough to get you by until your next paycheck. However, if you are facing long-term food scarcity, consider some of these other programs.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The SNAP program (formerly food stamps) has rigid qualification requirements. Namely, your income cannot be more than 130% of the poverty level and your assets need to be limited. However, if you qualify, you can receive several hundred dollars a month to buy food, depending on your family size.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
The WIC program provides supplemental food to pregnant and nursing women as well as their children ages five and under. To qualify for WIC, you must meet several qualifications. However, you’re automatically qualified if you already receive SNAP benefits or if you’re on Medicaid.
National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
Young woman serving lunch to school girl at canteen
There are two tiers to qualify for the NSLP. If your family income is under 130% of the poverty level, your child qualifies for free school lunches. If your family income is between 130% and 185% of the poverty level, your child qualifies for reduced-price school lunches.
Summer Food Service Program
During the summer, your children can receive free food to make up for the food they are not receiving because school isn’t in session. The summer food service program requires no documentation of eligibility. You can call, text, or contact your local food bank to find locations distributing food during the summer.
Backpack Program
The Backpack Program fills the need for food on the weekend when kids aren’t getting free school meals. This food bank locator can help connect you with a local food bank that may be participating in the Backpack Program.
Final Thoughts
No child should go hungry. These programs can help ensure your children get enough food so they can grow strong and focus on their school work. In addition, if your money is stretched tight, these programs offer a bit of leeway so you can focus on other expenses such as housing and utility expenses.
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Cheap Ways to Childproof a Condominium
When baby starts crawling and walking, you may feel like you don’t have enough eyes to keep track of him. Babies this age love getting into cabinets and putting things into their mouths. They love to explore. While these traits are good for babies’ growing knowledge, it can also put them in danger, sometimes mortal danger. However, there are cheap ways to childproof a condominium that will help keep your baby safe and help you maintain some control over his environment.
Cheap Ways to Childproof a Condominium
If you’re trying to save money or be frugal when childproofing, you’ll be happy to know you can start with the free fixes first.
Free Ways to Childproof
Consider Baby Safety Before You Buy
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
If you even remotely are considering having a child when you are condo shopping, the best thing you can do is find a child-friendly condo layout. That means finding a condo that doesn’t have a large balcony that over looks the living space. (Trying to childproof an upstairs railing can be a nightmare!) Likewise, open concept plans may be more difficult to childproof because you can use doorways to separate off areas.
Rearrange Your Cupboards
Once your child starts becoming more mobile, it’s time to rearrange your cupboards. In the lower cabinets, put things like pots and pans. If baby gets into these items, no harm done. You’ll want to move any glass containers or lids to higher shelves.
Put Up Dangerous Items
Many people keep cleaning chemicals under their kitchen sink. A better place for these might be in a higher cupboard so you don’t risk your child getting into them and accidentally getting poisoned. Automatic lighters and other potentially dangerous items should all be put up. Out of sight, out of mind.
Keep Furniture Away from Windows
The next free thing you can do is keep furniture away from high windows. If your child’s bedroom is on the second floor or higher, be sure to keep the bed and dresser away from the window. This step makes it harder for your child to inadvertently fall from the window since she has nothing to climb.
Tie Up Window Blind Cords
Window blind cords create a real danger for young children. In a study by The Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, researchers “found that over 26 years emergency departments treated almost 17,000 children for strangulation from window covering cords. Of those cases, 271 children died” (Today.com).
Sure, you can buy expensive cord binders, but check out Pinterest for a way to make a free cord binder. All you need is a light piece of plastic that you probably were going to throw in recycling anyway and a pair of scissors. This idea is ingenious!
Bath Seat
Don’t feel the need to buy a special bath seat for when your little one takes a bath. Instead, place your child in a laundry basket in the tub when giving her a bath. She can stay seated in a smaller area, so there is less chance of slipping or falling.
Low-Cost Options
After you exhaust the free options, there are several low-cost ways to childproof your condo.
Tennis Balls on Sharp Corners
Little ones can often lose their balance when just learning to walk, so cut the side of a tennis ball and stick it on the sharp corners of tables and other items like the hearth of the fireplace.
Elastic on Handles
To keep cabinets with handles closed, put rubber bands around the handles. Double twist to make sure the doors stay securely closed.
If you have cabinets without handles, either install handles or you can buy inner door latches. These run about $1 a piece.
Plastic Container Around Power Cords
If you have a power strip you want to babyproof, you can take a cheap plastic tub, put the power strip inside, and cut a hole on the side for the cords. See full instructions and image on Pinterest.
Hairband Around the Toilet Paper Roll
Remember the fun age when toddlers delight in unrolling ALL the toilet paper on the roll? End that habit with a rubber band around the toilet paper roll.
Band-aids over Electrical Outlets
If it will be a few days before you can get to the store, you can cover electrical outlets with band-aids. However, your baby will likely figure this one out quickly, so eventually you’ll want to buy electrical outlet plug covers. These are very affordable at only $6 per 24 pack.
Door Knob Covers
There may be some rooms and closets that you just don’t want your child to get into unattended. For those rooms, consider door knob covers. These are easy for parents to use, but little ones usually can’t figure them out until at least the preschool years.
DIY Baby Gate
If there is a doorway you want to keep baby from going through, you can create a DIY baby gate. You’ll need two tension rods and fabric. True, you’ll have to invest some money into this project, but the overall cost is much cheaper than metal, store-bought baby gates. Plus, these are softer.
Air Vent Protection
If you have air vents on the floor, your child may be unable to resist dropping items down the slats. Prevent this by putting fabric tulle under or over the air vent. Air can still flow through unobstructed, but your child will no longer be able to put things through the cracks.
Final Thoughts
These are just a few of the cheap ways to childproof a condominium. While you won’t have to spend a fortune childproofing, you will likely need to buy some supplies. There are free childproofing fixes, but you’ll also probably have to buy some of the low-cost supplies to truly keep your child safe. But don’t worry, in a few years, childproofing will be a distant memory as your child gains more independence and learns what’s safe and what isn’t.
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How to Teach a Child to Count Money
Counting money is one of the most foundational skills children must learn. Counting and making change are critical skills that many entry-level jobs require. When you apply the following lessons on how to teach a child to count money, you challenge his or her mind to grow in other ways, too.
To give you a thorough array of options on teaching counting skills, I sought out advice from experienced educators and parents. Here are my findings.
How to Teach a Child to Count Money
Create a Play Store
Parents who have taught their children the basics of money said one of the best ways to do so was to set up a play store. Together with their child, they created a fake shop with household items or toys listed for sale. Use a sticky note to indicate the price of each item, then give your child change, and open the shop for business.
Depending on your child’s age, you can vary the degree of difficulty. For example, for a 3-year-old, you could say, “This costs one quarter,” and teach her to identify that coin. For older children, you can pay with a dollar bill and walk them through making change. Don’t forget to also teach them how to count change back to the “customer.”
Teach Them to Count by Fives and Tens
Photo by Katie Harp on Unsplash
“Kids need to have a good understanding of place value and number sense before they count money,” says a third-grade teacher with I spoke via Facebook. “Start with one coin, and teach them how to count it and how many it takes to make a dollar.”
She goes on to describe a great money game involving two dice. Give the child as many pennies as the number he or she rolled. Have the child then exchange it for the highest value possible.
For example, if the child rolls a ten he or she can trade in pennies for a dime.
In addition to teach your child how to count money, when you teach them to count by fives and tens, you’re teaching them the beginning stages of multiplication.
Let Them See Real Transactions
Many people have had great success with giving their children real world experience.
Here are several examples:
Earn Money Through Chores
Help them understand that “work = pay,” and help them count their earnings. If there’s something they want to buy, help them estimate the cost.
Lead by Example
Allow your child to watch you pay for something in cash. This will help him see how money works and how it requires lots of it to pay for his needs and wants.
Study the History of Real Money Together
Hand your child the coins you received in change that day and quiz her on some coin facts. Not only can learning to count money teach your children better math skills, but you can also create an impromptu history lesson. For example, did you know that the nickel used to be called a “half dime” up until 1883? Half dimes were made of silver which became scarce during the Civil War. After that, they were made of copper and nickel, and they finally were made and referred to entirely of nickel in the 1880s. Click here for more U.S. coin facts.
Final Thoughts
The overall theme of how to teach a child to count money is YOUR involvement. Set aside time to sit at the table and talk about how many nickels are in a quarter or how many pennies are in a dollar. Talk about how much money you earned at your first job or something you saved up for, like a bicycle. That will help your child apply what he or she has learned.
How did you learn to count money? In school? At home?
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What Is the Financial Responsibility of a Step Parent?
Many second marriages now come with the bonus of additional children—step children. As a step parent, you’re expected to provide support and understanding for your “bonus children.” But what other responsibilities do you have? Namely, what are the financial responsibilities?
Financial Responsibility of a Step Parent?
Your financial responsibility is largely determined by your step child’s situation. Did his other parent die? Are his parents divorced, but the other spouse is paying child support? Was he abandoned by his other parent and receives no visits or monetary help from that parent? Do you have your own kids that you bring to this marriage? If so, what is your financial situation with your ex?
All of these variables come into play when you decide what your financial responsibility is as a step parent.
Do You Want to Adopt?
One of the first questions before you tie the knot is to determine if you want to adopt your step children. Of course, this isn’t an option for everyone, especially if the step children’s other parent plays a role in their lives. However, if your step children have an absent parent or their parent has died, you may want to adopt them, especially if they are open to the idea.
There are many advantages to adopting step children. Most importantly, you will then be able to have a legal say in their lives. Likewise, if your new spouse becomes incapacitated, you are recognized by the law as your step children’s parent.
Talk to a Financial Planner
Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash
After you’ve made that crucial decision, the next is to consider talking to a financial planner. When merging a household, there are many financial decisions to make.
When it comes to taxes, will you file jointly with your new spouse? If so, will you be able to claim the children on your tax return, or will their other parent?
When it comes to money management, will you merge finances or keep them separate? If you decide to keep them separate, what will be your financial obligation to your step children?
Analyze Your Life Insurance Beneficiaries
Finally, analyze your life insurance beneficiaries. You, your spouse, and your step children are now a family, and as such, you want to make sure that they will be able to function financially should the unexpected happen.
Unfortunately, some people forget to change their beneficiaries, so as soon as you’re married, make sure to change the beneficiaries to your new family. Also evaluate whether you have enough life insurance after your new marriage. You may find you need to secure more.
Final Thoughts
Each relationship is unique. While there are no explicit rules about a step parent’s financial responsibility to her step children like there are with biological parents and children, you still want to make sure your new family is taken care of financially. You can do this by considering whether to adopt, consulting with a financial planner, and updating your life insurance.
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Teach Your Child About Money – Free Savings Chart for Kids
One of the most wonderful gifts you can give your children is a healthy understanding of money. Not a craving for it or an assumption that it will lead to happiness. Instead, you have the privilege – the responsibility – to teach children about hard work, the power of saving, the dangers of debt, and the gift of giving. To help your children learn, we’ll also set you up with a free savings chart for kids.
How to Teach Your Child About Saving Money
Many people are in crisis mode, financially. It’s impossible to know what they learned or didn’t learn about money at home, but would America look different if more parents taught their children the principles I listed above? What if more parents led by example by communicating together about a budget, saying no more often to frivolous spending, and showing their children how to save up and pay cash instead of using credit cards?
It’s purely my speculation, but I’d go so far as to say we’d have less stress, less divorce, fewer addictions, more giving, and greater job satisfaction. Do you agree?
With the right steps, we can teach our children to live differently.
What About Student Loan Debt?
Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash
You’re probably thinking, “What about student loans? I was just trying to further my education and now I’m overwhelmed by debt as a result.” Totally valid point. I remember approaching high school graduation and hearing everyone discuss their reasons for choosing one school over another. NOT ONCE did my friends and I stew over the debt load we’d receive from student loans. None of us saw what was coming.
In fact, according to StudentLoanHero.com, outstanding student loan debt reached more than $1.64 trillion in 2020.
How can we teach our children to save money in the face of such a burden of debt?
Start the Conversations
A great way to educate your young tribe about the dos and don’ts of spending is to create an open line of communication. Encourage them to ask questions. Show them the process of paying for your groceries or a meal at a restaurant. Take them to the bank and show them how you make a savings deposit.
Also, a conversation is a great way to tackle topics like:
- Work ethic
- Getting a job
- Planning for the future
- Saving for a major purchase
- Saving for college (tell them about the ways you are saving for their college while they’re young)
- Integrity
- Greed
- Envy
- Contentment
- Generosity
You don’t have to run down this list every night at the dinner table, but the more conversations you do have about these topics, the more seeds your planting in your child’s mind. You’re teaching her how to think about money, not what to think.
Put Them to Work
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
We’ve covered the important step of talking about money. Next, it’s time to apply what your child has learned. If he’s old enough to hold a broom or to straighten up his room, your child is old enough to get paid for chores.
It’s important that he knows the money isn’t just for spending. Saving is a difficult concept for young minds, at first, unless they have something for which they’re saving. For example, if your daughter sees a Belle doll in the toy aisle and begs for you to buy it, you have some choices. You can purchase the doll, you can discuss the cost and why it’s not in the budget, or you can write down the dollar amount on a paper, head home, and help her calculate how many chores it’d take to save for the doll.
To aid in that endeavor, here are some free tools you can use with your child.
Free Savings Chart for Kids – and Other Great Savings Tools
Printable Savings Chart for Kids – via CouponsAreGreat.net
Downloadable “Share, Save, Spend” Chart for Kids – via iMom.com
Printable Savings Thermometer Chart – via Frugal-Mama.com
52-Week Money Challenge for Kids
Final Thoughts
Combine a free savings chart for kids with some great conversations and hard work around the house. You’ll be setting the stage for great financial decisions, which will hopefully follow your children into adulthood!
Got some tips for teaching children to save money? Share one below!
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What Is the Greenlight Card for Kids?
If you have kids that are in middle school and high school, you likely feel the need (as I do) to teach them financial common sense. The hope is that eventually they will be able to move out on their own and be financially responsible. However, this lesson isn’t quickly learned, and it requires a lot of parental oversight to do it right. One tool that can help you is the Greenlight Card for kids.
What Is the Greenlight Card for Kids?
The Greenlight Card for kids is a debit card your children can use, but it comes with some amazing parental controls so you can help guide and influence your children in their money habits.
Please note that if your kids have smartphones, there is an app they can use which will show them their balance and chores and allow them to make requests. However, the Greenlight Card for Kids can be used if kids don’t have smartphones, also.
Features of the Greenlight Card for Kids
This card makes allowances high tech.
Instantly Deposit Money
You can reward your children for chores well done by depositing money in their Greenlight Card. Within the card app, children can set up different categories such as spend, save, and give. They can also set up long-term goal categories such as saving for a car.
Parental Benefits
You can help your children manage their money with this helpful card. You’ll be given real time spending alerts.
Teach your children about interest by giving them interest payments on their savings. You decide how much you want to give them.
In addition, you can enable the feature that allows them to withdraw money from the ATM and set how much they’re allowed to withdraw. Or, you can make withdrawing money off limits.
Features for Older Kids
Photo by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash
If your teens have jobs, they can have their paycheck automatically deposited to the Greenlight Card for Kids. The card can also be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Safety Features
Each Greenlight Card is FDIC insured. In addition, the card blocks your children from spending money for gambling or buying lottery tickets. They also won’t be able to spend money at places like massage parlors and horse or dog races, and they cannot get cashback from a purchase. You’ll get an alert if they try.
In addition, parents have the ability to turn the debit card on or off, should they need to.
How Much Does the Greenlight Card Cost?
The first month is free. After that, you pay $4.99 for debit cards for up to five kids. Should you need replacement cards, the first replacement cards are free.
Final Thoughts
The Greenlight Card for Kids offers a way to give your children financial independence while also providing parental oversight so you can help guide your children into financial growth. This tool is an excellent way to exchange money between parents and kids while having features that let your children grow in responsibility as they grow up.
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7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Buy Your Kid a Car
When I was 15, my dad died. When it was time for me to get my license and a car, my mom gave me my dad’s El Camino truck. My dad loved El Caminos; he would buy beat-up ones for cheap, refurbish them, and then sell them for a profit. The one I inherited was a beat-up one he had bought but wasn’t able to begin to fix up before he died. I took shop class when I was 16, and during downtime, we could bring in our cars for a car wash. I’ll never forget my humiliation when I brought in the El Camino, and huge, rusted chunks fell off when we washed the car. The El Camino wasn’t a good car to drive in the winter, so my mom sold it. She then bought me a beater Ford Escort, and I paid her a payment every month until I’d paid her back in full. Should you consider buying your kid a car? My husband and I firmly believe there are many reasons why parents should not buy their children cars.
1. Kids Need to Learn How to Earn What They Get
One of the reasons you shouldn’t buy your kid a car is because they need to learn how to earn what they get. Part of your job as a parent is to teach your kids responsibility.
Of course, you should provide for their basic needs, such as housing, clothes, food, etc. But giving them everything they want in life is not going to teach them to appreciate what they are given.
You could argue that they will have to pay for the gas and any repairs but not the actual car. Even with those financial responsibilities, it may not be enough to teach your kids that they get what they earn for themselves.
There is a saying that if you “give a man a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime”. Applying it to this situation means giving your kid a car isn’t the best thing you can do for them.
2. They Need to Learn Patience
Depending on the type of car your child wants, saving up money for it will take some time. However, in doing so, she will have learned a valuable lesson. Hopefully, that patience will continue throughout her life so she doesn’t get into the habit of buying things on credit before she can truly afford them.
As an adult, I’ve had to wait for many things that I wanted until I could afford them. My husband and I didn’t even buy our first house until we were in our early 40s.
3. Buying Their Own Car Could Help Them Build Credit
Even though it’s preferable that kids save to buy their own car, some argue that a loan could work to their advantage when buying their own car. If they are responsible for making their payments on time, it can help them build their credit for future purchases.
Putting your kid in debt at a young age isn’t necessarily the ideal situation. For one thing, you will probably have to co-sign the loan. But perhaps it’s a better option than buying your kid a car and paying for it yourself.
4. They Shouldn’t Expect the Best
Many kids now expect that they will have the same standard of living their parents have while they are still quite young. These kids don’t realize that their parents have been working 10, 20, 30 years to earn the standard of living they currently experience.
When I started out on my own, I struggled, as many of us have. When I moved out, most of my furniture came from garage sales. Most of my clothes came from second-hand stores. Most of my early cars were beaters.
Photo by Steady Hand Co. on Unsplash
One of the things I remember most vividly about reading Michelle Obama’s biography, Becoming, is that Barrack Obama had a car in college that had a hole in the floorboard of the passenger seat. Michelle Obama wrote about keeping her feet far from the hole and seeing the pavement rushing past. Clearly, I had a similar experience with my dad’s El Camino, and many of you reading might have also experienced driving a beater car because it was cheap.
5. They May Not Take Care of It
Another one of the reasons you shouldn’t buy your kid a car is because many teens are not good at taking care of their stuff. If yours is one of them, do you really think it’s a good idea to spend thousands on a car for them?
Before shelling out a ton of money on a vehicle, consider whether or not your kid is ready to take responsibility for the car. Talk to them about changing the oil, filters, wiper blades, and other regular maintenance.
If it is clear your kid expects you to pay for repairs and give them gas money, you can certainly say no to the car.
6. Is it the Best Use of Your Money?
Buying your kid a car may not be the best use of your money. This is just one more reason you shouldn’t buy your kid a car.
For instance, you might be able to take the money and invest it for your future retirement. Or, pay down debt instead of buying your kid a car.
7. It May Cause Them to Study Less
If your child is given a car, it may lead him to feel like he is free to come and go as he chooses. This is especially true if you have not given him strict rules on when he should be home at night.
With too much freedom, your teen may spend less time on the things she should be doing, such as studying. This could cause her grades to drop and threaten her ability to get into a good college.
So, what do you think? Should you buy your kid a car?
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A Self-Care Guide for Parents of Drug Addicts
Approximately 23 million Americans are living with at least one addiction, yet only half of them are receiving treatment.
For parents, one of the hardest things you’ll ever do is helping your child through an addiction. You need to be there for your child, but you also need to take care of yourself to stay sane.
Are you seeking help for parents of drug addicts? Keep reading below to learn about what you can do to navigate your child’s addiction and treatment.
Is Gabb Wireless a Good First Cell Phone?
Though we put it off as long as we felt we could, this summer, we decided to get our child a cell phone for his birthday. We had specific requirements for a cell phone. Namely, we didn’t want it to have internet access, yet we wanted it to look like the phones his friends use. We did a lot of research before we finally bought a phone from Gabb Wireless.
Features of a Gabb Wireless Cell Phone
While a Gabb Wireless cell phone doesn’t have all the features a typical cell phone has, it does have several important ones:
- A 5” display,
- 2 MP front and 5 MP rear camera,
- 5 mm Earphone Port for headphones,
- Battery that lasts up to three days,
- 2GB RAM/16GB ROM,
- Coverage on a nationwide 4G LTE network, and
- 12 essential apps including phone, messaging, contacts, camera, video, gallery, calendar, calculator, clock, voice recorder, FM radio, and file manager.
In addition, Gabb Wireless doesn’t require a long-term contract. You pay month by month (billed on the 15th of the month with payment on the 17th), and you can cancel at any time.
You can go to the Gabb Wireless website to see if coverage is available in your area.
Is Gabb Wireless a Good First Cell Phone?
Honestly, the answer depends on what you’re looking for. However, there are several reasons why Gabb Wireless is a good first cell phone for our child.
Unlimited Text and Calling
We use Ting for our own cell phone service, so we were pretty sure we didn’t want to add him to our plan. (With Ting you pay as you use, so you pay for each individual call and text, which we didn’t want to do with a teen.)
Our teen isn’t particularly chatty, but he uses his new Gabb Wireless cell phone a lot. He is working on a political campaign, and part of his work is calling registered voters for about six to eight hours a week. That translates to A LOT of cell phone calls. We’re so glad he has unlimited calling!
He also likes to text his friends, so he uses that feature frequently.
No Internet Access
We specifically wanted a phone that didn’t have internet access and all of the trouble that could potentially go with the internet such as viewing inappropriate content, spending too much time playing games or using social media, or just fueling a cell phone addiction, which is so easy to do.
We wanted our teen to have a cell phone, but we didn’t want to give him too much device that he wouldn’t handle responsibly. In a few years, he can upgrade to a regular smart phone.
Appearance
If you’ve spent any time looking for cell phones that don’t have internet access, you know that many of them look like relics from 15 years ago. We really appreciated that the Gabb Wireless cell phone looks like any other regular smart phone. That was an important feature for our teen.
Low Cost
Our child is forgetful and not the most gentle with his possessions, so we wanted a phone that was reasonably priced. We bought the cell phone from Gabb Wireless for $69 on sale. (Sometimes they have sales where the price of the phone goes as low as $49!)
Gabb Wireless has their own network, so we pay approximately $24 a month for the service, but as I mentioned, there is unlimited text and calling. So, the total outlay between buying the phone and paying for service for a year is $357 ($69 for the phone and $288 for a year of coverage).
Basic Apps
Photo by Lance Anderson on Unsplash
The phone does have basic apps and features that our teen enjoys. He listens to music on his phone when he takes walks, and he uses the alarm feature frequently.
Downsides to the Gabb Wireless as a Good First Cell Phone
If you’re a parent who wants a simpler phone for your kids that keeps away many of the dangers of a traditional smart phone, Gabb Wireless may be a good first cell phone for you. However, there are definitely some drawbacks to this phone.
No Ability to Track
The majority of smartphones give you the ability to track your child. You can quickly check and see exactly where they are. This gives parents reassurance that children are where they’re supposed to be when they say they are. In the unlikely chance that your child gets kidnapped (or if he simply gets lost), the tracking feature can also help the police find him.
Unfortunately, Gabb Wireless does not have this ability. For some parents, that alone is a reason to not buy this phone. I do hope that this is something Gabb Wireless is able to remedy in the future.
Can’t Send or Receive Images
While a Gabb Wireless phone does have a camera, you can’t use the camera to send photos in your texts. Texts can only send text messages.
I completely understand why Gabb Wireless did this, but still, sometimes this feature can be annoying. Within the first week of getting his phone, my son was chatting with his aunt who sent over some pictures of her dogs, but my son did not receive the images. He was a bit embarrassed to tell her that his new phone doesn’t let him view images.
No Way to Monitor Texts
Since there is no Internet on this phone, there is no way to install monitoring software to monitor your child’s texts. This seems to be a flaw in an otherwise extremely safe phone. I would hope in future models that Gabb Wireless could address this issue.
Final Thoughts
For our family, Gabb Wireless is a good first cell phone. It looks like other smart phones with more capabilities, and it offers basic features that are necessary for younger children. Yet, it takes away one of the greatest sources of addiction as well as mischief—the Internet.
There are some drawbacks to this phone, but overall, Gabb Wireless is the best “safe” cell phone we found on the market.