Ask HN: Parent Hackers, can children Smart Watches be trusted at all?

A friend approached me with the question which smart watch to buy for her child, a 7 year old that will start to walk to school by herself. My friend wants the ease of mind that her daughter can call/notify her whenever something is up. And of course GPS tracking.

I already read a lot of really bad things going on security wise with a lot of those vendors [1]. For my own kids I will probably put of wearable "smart" tech until its not longer acceptable in their friends groups (probably around 12-14 here in my part of germany).

I guess I will not be able to persuade my friend from not buying something for the kid. So as an IT professional I wonder what advice I can give her.

Any vendors, certificates, setups that arguably stand out for you? Alternatives?

[1] eg https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24763110