Summer Miracles for Kids and Families
January 29, 2010
by Daniel Neal
Three and a half years ago my wife, Heller An, and I met our now 14-year-old son, Alex, through an amazing organization: Kidsave International. Kidsave’s motto is “Because every child needs a family.” Simply put, that is why kidsave exists. It helps kids without families find them.
In their own words:
“Kidsave gives kids who are hidden from public view in foster care and orphanages the opportunity to visit with families and build relationships. We work as a catalyst for change, training social workers, orphanage workers and volunteers to help kids find permanent families, and change practices, laws and public financing to increase permanent family care for orphans and youth in foster care.”
Since 1999, more than 2700 individual children have found parents and lasting connections with adults because of Kidsave programs. Thousands more orphans and children in foster care around the globe have parents and lasting connections because of Kidsave’s training and advocacy efforts.
One of Kidsave’s most successful programs is its Summer Miracle Program.
Our family participated in this program in 2006. Yes, you probably guessed: our beloved son Alex was the child we hosted that magical summer.
Kidsave is now seeking Host Families for its 2010 Summer Miracles Program. If you know someone who may wish to learn about this program, you can find out more here .
If you want information about the Kidsave organization and its other programs, you can learn more here .
Super Sale at kajeet!
December 12, 2009
by Carol Politi
Still looking for that perfect holiday gift? Looking for great savings?
Use promo code HOLIDAY10 and save 10% on any purchase on kajeet.com through Tuesday, 12/15/09. This includes the new, popular Rumor 2, as well any of our other hot handsets – even those that are already on sale! Plus, order now and also get free ground shipping!
Happy Holidays!
Not So Boring Monday! Rumor2 & Cyber Monday Sale
November 29, 2009
by Carol Politi
Why not so boring? First, the Rumor 2 has arrived! It has some great features – including threaded texting and an extra row of keys on the QWERTY keyboard. (Ships Monday, December 7th). Plus we have an array of Rumor 1 phones in great colors – check them out here.
Plus, you get 15% off on Cyber Monday on any purchases at kajeet.com (that’s 15% off any time tomorrow, 11/30/09). Includes the new Rumor 2! Free shipping on all orders. Make sure to use promo code 15MONDAY at checkout to get your 15% off.
Carol
kajeet Mobile Web – New!
November 13, 2009
by Carol Politi
We just launched some great new mobile web services! This new offering provides significantly more flexibility for those that want to surf the web from their kajeet device and gives parents the ability to select the level of access they think works best for their family.
The kajeet Navigator (i.e., the browser on your phone) now has a set of free sites, a set of kid-friendly sites selected by kajeet (these cost money to access), access to social networking and IM (these cost money and are in a separately controlled category), and a category that allows you to access the web freely without controls. The new Feature Manager on kajeet.com allows parents to control the access their kids will have to various sites on the mobile web. Login to kajeet.com and select Configurator/Feature Manager to see the full set of options.
What does it cost?
The web services are charged based on use – $0.35 per 0.25 megabyte (each 0.25MB expires 24 hours after purchase). What that means is that we charge you for 0.25 MB and that this is good for a day. (Some carriers charge in MB, for comparison purposes this equates to $1.40/MB).
What on earth does 0.25 Mbyte get you and why did we take this approach? First, it gets you:
- About 10 mobile-friendly web pages
- About 2-3 full web pages (i.e., non-mobile optimized pages)
Why did we take this approach? It is nice to be able to, for a very small cost, casually browse the web – e.g., look at the weather once in a while. Many of our customers just want a bit of web access and they don’t want to buy a big bundle. (For those that are very heavy users, we will add a bundle option in the future!)
Please note: it is still free to browse our Navigator store for ringtones, games, and applications – and all kajeet users still get access to select free mobileweb sites! Access to your “MyKajeet” is also free.
We would love some input on this – so please comment here on the new features. Your comments will directly reach our product team and they will listen to you! We could specifically use help in the following areas:
1. What sites would you like to see in the “free” category. Our plan is to consistently make available at least 3 sites as part of our base service. These need to be appropriate for kids of all ages. We would appreciate customer feedback to help us decide if we have made the right choices.
2. Do you know of other kid appropriate sites that should be specifically listed and made available in our “Other Great Sites” category? This is a category of sites that again need to be appropriate for kids of all ages. This category is a bit light at the moment and we would like to make it more robust.
Please comment here to let us know what you think, and to let us know how you would like to see these features evolve. Thanks!
Text Paks on the Phone
November 2, 2009
By Carol Politi
We offer a variety of ways to purchase Text Paks – including the option to purchase these on the handset itself. Because we assume that a child is the user of the handset, it is only possible to make one time (i.e., non-recurring) Text Pak purchases from a kajeet handset.
There are three options for one-time Text Pak purchases available on the handset:
1. 200 texts for $4.99
2. 1,000 texts for $9.99
3. Unlimited texts for $19.99.
This ability to fund these one-time Text Paks from the wallet allows you to provide an allowance in your son or daughter’s kajeet wallet and let them decide how they want to spend it – talking, texting, playing games, etc. (Note that your calls will always go through – even if they run out of their allowance – if you fund your Parent Wallet).
The handset purchase options are especially ideal if your son or daughter may not be purchasing a Pak every month. For example, if they know they will text more over a holiday when they are not with their friends or if they want the ability to spend their phone allowance on texts one month and games the next.
Are you or your child using the handset purchase option? Please let us know what other tools you would like to see on the handset.
Sanyo 2700
October 6, 2009
By Carol Politi
Have you checked out kajeet’s new Sanyo 2700 devices on kajeet.com? These are great!!! (And they are on sale for $10 off during our launch period – through October 12!)
Here is what the reviewers are saying:
“The Sanyo SCP-2700 is slim and lightweight, with a great keyboard and an easy-to-use interface. It offers extensive messaging support, including support for corporate e-mail. It’s also very affordable.” CNET
PhoneScoop provides a good physical description of the phone in its review: “It is small, somewhat sleek, relatively attractive, and very light weight. In other words, it is easy to carry around. The sides and edges are rounded, making it comfortable to hold in your hand. The back plate covering the battery has some slight texture to it due to the checkered pattern, but the rest of the plastics are smooth. This phone was made to fit in your jeans pocket.”
The Sanyo 2700 is great for kids that love to text and it also comes with the kajeet service and free parental controls allowing you to configure limits, turn off texting at night, and more.
Comment here & let us know how you like the 2700!
Sleep
September 29, 2009
Sleep
by Carol Politi
Another series of articles have come out describing all the distractions today’s kids have to deal with not only throughout their day, but also throughout their night. A recent article “Night-texting’ taking its toll on N.J. teens” highlights kids that are texting even while they are sleeping.
Research has shown that the lack of sleep impacts not only kid’s school work but also their emotional and physical health. kidshealth.org has a good summary of teen sleep needs.
Kids are going to wake up if they get notified of a text message on their phone. Some parents have a rule that all phones must be powered down and put in a designated spot before the kids retire for the evening. That can work! Another option for kajeet parents is to establish a TimeManager policy that prevents the phone from sending or receiving texts during certain hours. Many kajeet parents put on a block during the nights and during school hours. (Emergency numbers that the parent designates can get through.)
I think we would all love it if our kids would just learn to apply reasonable limits – this is an important part of growing up. However, with texting, we have to be worried not only about our own kid’s behavior, but also that of their friends in homes with different policies and limits. Sometimes it makes sense to give them a little help! Please login to kajeet.com or call kajeet customer care at 1-866-452-5338 to configure TimeManager on your kajeet device.
Back to School Prep
August 27, 2009
by Carol Politi
As you are populating your calendar with all the school activities for the fall, take a few minutes to add school blocks and holidays to the TimeManager for your kid’s kajeet phone (go to kajeet.com, Configurator, TimeManager to do this). You can block calls and messages during school hours and after certain times of night to make sure your kids focus on school and are not interrupted at night with texts or calls from friends. (Note that your emergency or “always allowed” numbers will get through a calendar block).
This is also a great time to get familiar with the kajeet.com site – especially Account Activity which gives you a detailed list of how the phone is being used at various times of day. It will let you know if your child is using picture messaging and whether it might be useful to do some coaching on cell phones and pictures. If you have a teen that is driving, you can check Account Activity to make sure the phone is not being used while your teen is driving.
Good luck with back to school!
Testing New Plans!
July 2, 2009
By Carol Politi
We have been listening to our customer’s feedback on our rate plans and as a result are testing customer interest in two new plans. These are not available generally on our website while we are testing; however, we are happy to make them available to any current kajeet customer that might be interested. Here are the details:
1. Unlimited Talk N’ Text! We have heard from many parents of older teens that their kids need unlimited talk and text, and have heard from parents that are interested in taking advantage of our service themselves that they would be interested in this offer.
2. 30 Minute Plan – for only $6.99/month! We have also heard that many customers want a basic starter plan that includes about a minute a day – just enough to call on the way home from the bus stop for those kids walking solo for the first time. We have packaged this into a $6.99/month plan.
Please feedback and let us know what you think! As usual, if these plans turn out to be popular with our customers we will work to find a way to incorporate them into our standard rate plan options.
If you already have a kajeet phone (or if you are purchasing a phone through one of our mom sales team consultants), just call kajeet customer care after you activate and they will be happy to put you on one of these plans.
(Plans are being tested through September 30th and customers that select one of these plans can remain on the plan they selected even if we do not make it a standard rate plan option).
Kids, Sleep – and Texting Controls!
June 10, 2009
By Carol Politi
“Teens whose parents let them stay up after midnight on weeknights have a much higher chance of being depressed or suicidal than teens whose parents enforce an earlier bedtime, says research being presented today at a national sleep conference.” from an article in today’s USA Today.
It is hard to be a kid today – there are so many distractions. And this study is shocking with respect to the impact of sleep deprivation. One extract:
“Middle- and high-schoolers whose parents don’t require them to be in bed before midnight on school nights are 42% more likely to be depressed than teens whose parents require a 10 p.m. or earlier bedtime. And teens who are allowed to stay up late are 30% more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in the past year.”
Cell phones – while typically acquired for safety purposes – can be a distraction at night. Even kids that mean to play by the rules have a hard time not picking up a phone when a text comes in at 11, 12, or later…
If you are a kajeet customer, you have tools that can help your child avoid this kind of distraction. You can set your TimeManager controls to block calls, texts, and pictures during sleeping hours. To do this you simply login to your kajeet account, click on the Configurator, and then set up TimeManager controls.
If you need assistance with setting up any of your kajeet controls, please contact customer care at 1-866-452-5338. They will be happy to set the account up for you.
Note that both kajeet and non-kajeet customers can also put a policy in place where all cell phones are left in a certain place each night – far from the bedrooms. Ideally they would be shut off so they can’t ring and distract anyone in the house. This is an honor policy and might just be too tempting for some kids – if so – consider the controls above!
How do you make sure your kids get enough sleep? We would love to hear your tips.
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