Boo! Halloween is a time for kids to have fun with crazy costumes, lots of lollies and a few good scares for fun. Halloween can be scary for parents too- but for completely different reasons.
The good news is, Halloween can be a great way start the conversation with kids about personal safety. Today, we have more tools at our disposal to let kids go out, have fun and develop that all important independence while still keeping an eye on them.
When done correctly and with a few things in mind, trick or treating on Halloween can be a fun and safe experience for everyone.
Lets run through how three of the most important Spacetalk safety features can help kids have a little more fun and freedom, while giving you priceless reassurance and peace of mind.
This post might be talking about Halloween, but many of these tips are useful any time your child is out and about whether it’s with friends, walking the dog or traveling to and from school.
Set up a trick or treat Safe Zone
Safe Zones are a geo-fenced radius, kind of like a circle around a point on a map.
These zones can be fully customised on the Spacetalk app, with many parents having multiple zones active for locations like their child’s school, home, grandparents’ house and after school activities.
When your child enters or leaves a Safe Zone, the Spacetalk App will let you know via a Safe Zone Alert.
Setting up a trick or treat Safe Zone is a great way to make sure you’ll be notified if your child tries to wander outside the designated zone.
You can make this trick or treat zone as large or small as you like depending on your child’s age and confidence level, but we always recommend never letting your child go trick or treating alone if they’re too young.
GPS Location on Demand
If you want to check in and see where your kids are, you can check their location at any time via the Spacetalk app.
Spacetalk also lets you receive automatic location updates at intervals from every five minutes to every hour.
This can be incredibly reassuring if you want to see where your child is, but don’t want them to feel like you’re smothering them too much, especially if they’re getting a little bit older.
SOS Alerts
Before setting out for some Halloween fun, make sure kids know how to activate the SOS Alert function on their watch.
This function is available on both Kids and Adventurer models, but they are activated differently.
Spacetalk Adventurer: Swipe up on the screen and slide the toggle to the right.
Spacetalk Kids: Simply press and hold the SOS button on the side of the watch down for about three seconds.
Have kids practice activating an SOS Alert in front of you and let them know they can use it any time they feel scared, lost or uncomfortable.
If an alert is activated, you will receive a message with your child’s GPS location, so you can get to them quickly in an emergency.
Tips for a safe Halloween
• Check your child’s trick or treat lollies before they eat them. A good rule of thumb is to only eat individually wrapped items, but these should also be checked.
• Be aware of your surroundings. Take care when crossing the road and keep an eye out for cars entering and exiting driveways.
• Don’t give out personal information when talking to strangers.
• If kids will be out when it’s dark, pop some reflective tape on their costumes so they’ll be visible to passing cars.
Making use of Spacetalk’s safety features while keeping a few personal safety tips in mind will go a long way in helping kids have a happy, safe Halloween.