Product Reviews

Overall Rating:

3 out of 5

Quality:

4 out of 5

Product appearance:

5 out of 5

Age appropriateness:

5 out of 5

Play value:

4 out of 5

Dodgrblu

(read all my reviews)

Location:Seattle, WA

Age:6-8

Relationship:Parent

Received Free Product:Yes

Received Sample

Fun toy, but limited usefulness as a real journal

Date:September 16, 2015

Pros: High quality, Durable, techy security features are great fun, would make a fun birthday gift

Cons: limited usefulness as a journal, notebook is too small compared to the casing, notebook paper needs lines, seems to lack "staying power" as a toy

Upon first seeing My Password Journal, my eight-year-old daughter’s face lit up. She said it had a very pretty design on the front. She couldn’t wait to get it out of the package and stick batteries in it.

She encountered difficulties right off the bat with trying to record the password. Upon trying to repeat the password, which is required to set it, even in a silent room, the device kept exclaiming in its proper British accent, “It’s too noisy! Start over in a quieter place!” I’m not sure how much quieter one can get than absolute silence. My daughter was frustrated, but her persistence paid off and she finally got the hang of it.

Once she finally got the hang of setting the password, my eight-year-old and her five-year-old sister had a grand time with the security features of My Password Journal. In the first 24 hours, I think the eight-year-old changed the password and “intruder alert” about 15 times. (I keep waiting for her to forget her password, but she hasn’t yet.) My daughters enjoyed trying to trick the journal into opening by disguising their voices. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. They equally enjoy setting off the intruder alert.
As a parent, though, I find this product sorely lacking as a journal. For one thing, despite the bulkiness of the case, the actual notebook is quite small and only has about 25 pages. The pages are also unlined, which for the intended age group is a crippling flaw. Younger children depend a lot on lines on the paper when writing. In fact, I don’t think my daughter has done any actual writing in the journal. She has drawn some pictures and has doodled with the invisible ink. Mostly she enjoys playing with the security features and hiding things in the secret compartment.

Bottom line: it's a pretty good toy, highlighted by fun “security” gimmicks, but a poor journal. Even as a toy, I question its staying power, though: my daughter played with it a lot the first couple of days after receiving it, but has barely touched it since.

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Pros Durable(1) High quality(1) techy security features are great fun(1) would make a fun birthday gift(1)		Cons limited usefulness as a journal(1) notebook is too small compared to the casing(1) notebook paper needs lines(1) seems to lack "staying power" as a toy(1)
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