Pokémon Go is the hottest thing going right now. But is it safe for kids and young children? It can be if you keep these 3 tips in mind!
I’m out in a field today doing something I never thought I would be doing in a million years. I’m searching and catching Pokémon. Are you wondering “what on earth is a Pokémon?” Well, if you’re my age or younger, and you don’t know, I’d be kind of surprised if you haven’t heard of them. Pokémon is a game, with these little creatures, you can run around, you can catch them, you can train them, you can battle other Pokémon, you can turn them into giant creatures, it’s a lot of fun, it’s really addictive, and right now, it’s all the rage.
Just this last week or so, a game called Pokémon Go came out. Pokémon Go is a version of this game that you can put on your phone and runaround and look for Pokémon in the wild, at the park, at the store. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s really, really addictive.
Pokémon Go is really a hit with the kids. And our primary job here at Kung Fu 4 Kids is educating kids, building stronger kids, and making kids safer. So of course, I had to download the game and try it myself just to see what it’s all about.
As I was checking it out, a question dawned on me; “is this game really safe for kids?” So I’ve given it a lot of thought. And I wanted to share that with you.
First of all, to play the game, you’re required to have a smartphone to download it on. So unless your children have a smartphone, there’s not a whole lot of worry or a whole lot of concern there. If you let them play on your smartphone, then there’s a few things you want to keep in mind.
Whenever a child is using a smartphone, a computer, anything where they can get online, always monitor their activities, always know what they’re up to, always know if they happen to be chatting with somebody, always be very, very aware any online activity.
The next thing I’m really going to stress to you is this. With this game, you use your phone, you run around, you look all over the place, you find these Pokémon, sometimes you have to chase them, sometimes you have to go to other locations. So if you’re at the park, don’t just hand the phone over to your kids and say, “Hey, go get a Pokémon.”, because they could be following this thing, they could wander around, their head might not be up, they might not be aware, they could wander out into the street, or step in a hole. So always monitor what they’re doing. Always be next to them, always keep them in sight. Always know where they are and what they’re doing. Don’t let them just run free with your phone, because that is probably the biggest danger this game has to offer.
And then the next big danger is to your wallet, to your pocketbook, because the game has in app purchases, which means they can go into the game, they can buy stuff that’ll help them in the game, it’s really easy to do, so you want to make sure that it’s set up so that they can’t just go in and next thing you do is look at your bank statement and you’ve got $300 worth of charges. And the game can be played without those things, so it’s not necessary to have them. So again, keep an eye anytime they’re doing anything on the internet, keep them in sight when they ‘rerunning around your phone, make sure they don’t run out into the street or step in a hole, and make sure your phonies set up so they can’t make a bunch of in app purchases.
Other than that, I think the game is a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun for the whole family. Happy hunting.