Explore
We live in a fairly rural collection of houses (certainly as compared to my Houston suburban upbringing with concrete cul-de-sacs and flat, straight streets). There are no shoulders on the road which is also curvy and hilly. So when I’m walking, I switch sides of the road often depending on where the greatest visibility is. For that reason, I don’t let nine-year-old Amanda take off alone on her bike or on foot too much.
I’d like to, because I have all sorts of memories of my friend and I riding our bikes for hours. We played a game when we were a bit older (in junior high) called “try to get lost.” We’d just take random turns until we ended back on a street that was familiar to us in our well-mapped out master planned suburban community.
As I posted in the Cell Phone Experiment, Amanda and I have been trying out a cell phone for Kajeet. What exactly does a cell phone have to do with Creative Summer Days? you might be wondering. Well, it’s because of the security of the cell phone that I’ve allowed Amanda some freedom to either walk around the corner to see if her playmates our outside jumping on the trampoline, or to take the bike for a spin around the “block.” Knowing that I could ring her pink flip phone (which is cooler than mine, by the way) if she’s not back when I thought she’d be, allows me to set her free to test her wings of independence a bit.
Summer should be a time to explore–be it the backyard or the neighborhood. It troubles me that because of so much parental fear (or filled up and busy schedules) that kids aren’t free to just be kids playing creatively and independently in the great outdoors.
Another optional feature that Kajeet offers is GPS tracking to help you know where your child really is. It could be invaluable for safety, and it could also be useful for a little snooping. I had never heard of this, but recently read
about the way the mom in Certain Girls used it to check up on her 13-year-old daughter. I like this aspect of safety as well.
Kajeet offers so many other benefits–you need to check their website out for yourself. It is a cell phone truly made for parents and kids. Each kid’s account has a virtual wallet which allows you put in a certain amount of money each month. If they text 2 much, they are out of luck. What’s even better is that you can override that feature to always let them send or receive calls from certain places (like home or your cell phone), so that even if they’ve used up their allotted minutes, they can still receive or make a call to you. You can also restrict calls from certain numbers. Depending on your child’s age and level of responsibility, you can customize it as much as you want–allowing them more or less freedom as you deem appropriate.
Would you like the chance to win one of five fantastic packages from Kajeet? Tell us why you want to win the kid/parent-friendly cell phone from kajeet. Use these questions as a guideline: What is the number one reason you’d like your child to have a cell phone? How do you think that having a cell-phone would improve your child’s or your family’s sense of well-being? If you are one of the 5 winners selected (U.S. only) this is what you’ll receive:
o 1 Sanyo Katana phone in various colors (pink, blue, black) – valued at $99 each
o $50 credit to be used towards talking, texting, ringtones, games, music, etc.
o 3 months’ free GPS Locator service
o And, of course, the amazing kajeet service, which includes:
o ContactManager (determines who kids call/receive calls and texts from)
o TimeManager (prevents classroom, practice and dinnertime distractions)
o WalletManager (helps teach kids financial responsibility as well as helps your family stay on-budget)
o FeatureManager (determines which features should be used and at what capacities. Also includes Vault, which stores any downloaded content, regardless of whether it’s deleted from the handheld device)
You can answer the question here in the comments or you can write your answer in your blog, and link it up here. If you blog about it, be sure to point your readers to this post, and then link up your post–not your main blog address–to this Mr. Linky.
You have until June 23 to post your response, either as a comment or a linked-up blog post (edit–please do not link to your blog unless you have put a post on there about it). They will be evaluated based on genuine need and desire for the product as well as creativity. The winners will be announced on June 24 with the others from Creative Summer Days.
















180 Comments
My son is 13 going on 33. He believes that I don’t need to know his wareabouts at all times. Of course he wants a cellphone, but to be honest he is to irresponsible with the minutes and texting. With the features this phone has to offer, not only would I have a piece of mind about his safety, but also with my bill. This phone is a parents dream come true
!
i am not sure my youngster is ready for a regular cell phone, i’d love to try this out to see how it works
what a wonder product!
this is such a great product to help kids learn to use cellphones.
Very interesting product!
My daughter would love to have a phone like this, and it would allow me to still keep in control of her phone useage— yeah kjeet- great phones!
My boys…that is why I want to win!
My two kids are at the ages where they are wanting to do more things, and go places without me. I think the cellphone would help my well being just knowing I could call them at any time, and they could call me. I would feel still conected to the kid even when I am not there. And they could feel like they had a little more freedom. Thanks.
My 15 year old son would LOVE this. He’s not old enough to drive yet and always has band practice and boy scout meetings. If he had his own phone (which I could still control) he’d feel more like a grown up and be able to call for rides home or whatever.
my grandson is at the age he needs one for safety. would love to win it for him
My 10 yr old has been making lots of new friends this year and has been very active in sports and other activities. I would like to be able to get ahold of her when she is not with me. Thank you!
my son could really use this to keep n touch with me during the day count me in please
It has occurred to me that we must be the only family this side of the western hemisphere that does not have a cell phone plan. Could it be that I am the strictest mother in the world, and before we leave set down the rules, of what time I’ll be back for pick up, no ifs ands buts or extended time. I find that due to the fact that we don’t have mobile phones, I am unable to be flexible with our daughter if she has no way to contact me when she is out. When she goes to the movies with her friends, she is either unable to stay any longer to hang out, or has to borrow one of her friends phones to call me to let me know she’d like to visit with them a little longer. This would also be an affordable way to have this flexibility with her. $20.00 a month for a cell phone, would be a steal as I see it, one of the reasons we’ve never picked up a traditional cell phone plan is because of the cost.
They grow up too quickly and this product can give a parent real peace of mind…
I would like for my daughter to have a cell phone to give her a sense of security. Having one would help to lessen my anxiety because you can not be watching your children 24 7.
The number one reason I’d like my child to have a cell phone would be security of knowing where he’s at and since he is now 15 and in high-school; he is at that age where he and his friends like going to the mall, movies and so forth…it’d be nice to be able to get a hold of him when need be.
I think that having a cell-phone at my sons age will improve his sence of well-being in the sence that he feels trusted by my husband and I for him to have one. He would feel a lot more self confident knowing that there is trust built between him and ourselves.
This would be a wonderful gift for my son as he is already very trustworthy of having a cell-phone. I would love to give this to him for my confort as well.
I’m the daughter. My mom is getting older and is “technologically challenged” so she’s never had a cell phone. I worry about her being alone now and this phone sounds like it has a lot of great options that would give me (and mom) some peace of mind.
This sounds so cool! My almost 8 yr. old daughter wants a cell phone so bad and she would love this. When my daughter stays the night at my moms, my mom won’t let her call home if she wants to come home (we’ve talked about this). If she had her own cell phone she could just go to the bathroom and call us so that we could go and get her. Thanks for the great giveaway!!
Please enter me! I need to keep track of my son!
Peace of mind, thanks for the technology.
I would like to win because I have a six year old son with extreme anxiety. Even when he visits his dad on the weekends (which he loves to do), it doesn’t stop his anxiety and we would both feel more comfortable if he had a way to contact me anytime he wanted to.
This is definitely something I am interested in.
Michael could get a phone and drive Hannah crazy!
My kids both have a seizure disorder. Their meds usually keep things under control, but you never know. My daughter had a seizure 2 weeks ago at a crafts store. We were with her at the time, but she’s a teenager, and I want to allow her as much freedom as is reasonable. She does not want or need a regular cell phone, but this would be ideal – a fast way to contact me in an emergency.
security comes to fmind at Columbine/Pearl where would be without these cell phones and valuable calls from students during the deadly school invasions. Thanks SW
I want to win because I think it looks really cool, and I need a new phone
DUDES AND DUDETTES!!!! phones r a necesity for a teen
1. for security and protection 2. in this day and age teens need cells so PLEASE give me this phone
we would love this, we trust our children, but its just a safety net to have of of these. my kids usually end up taking mine or my husbands phone when they go out. turning 13 next month is a big deal, so i think a phone would be a good idea.
I would love to have this for my son. He likes to go over his friends house but never calls me like he is supposed to. If he had this; NO EXCUSE!!
Great phone!! absoloutly love it and it would be great becuz…HELLO!!no contract!!
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