1. What do you think about a monitoring system tracks the baby’s breathing rhythms and relays infrared images from the nursery? Too much? Some parents don’t think so, despite the fact that the electronics have caused the strangling deaths of two infants. When you trade off one danger for another, what benefit do you really get? Several steps above the old baby monitors, the new ones shouldn’t take the place of actual supervision and should not be relied on to take care of any emergency. Like all technology, it has its limits.
2. How about a nanny cam, to keep watch on the child and the child’s hired caregivers? I know you can’t always be home, but doesn’t this strike you as a little overprotective? Turning your own house into a Big Brother set is not my idea of safety. A lack of trust is certainly implied here, also. But I guess it’s like the traffic cams; better to catch it on tape for the lawyers.
3. Toddlers and grade-schoolers can be equipped with GPS devices enabling a parent to know their location should something go awry. Okay, let’s look at this one logically. Sounds like a good idea. One company, Brick House Security, offers a GPS child locater for $200 that functions as a digital watch and can be locked into the child’s wrist. If forcibly removed, an alert is sent to the parent’s cell phone and email. Why, exactly, do I want my child strapped up like a convict? Oh, yeah… safety.
Let’s take it one step further. A satellite-enabled tracking device could be implanted in the child – a technology now expanding in Mexico among people distressed by a kidnapping epidemic there. I understand that idea, really. Micro-chipping children and dogs… However, a child who ran away from home or a noncustodial parent who abducted a child might make a….gruesome attempt to remove the device. Road-side surgery is not recommended.
4. You can take a step down and go for the simple alarm attached to the child. If you are separated from your child, just hit the handy panic switch and an alarm attached to them will sound. Or they can hit the button and notify you that they are lost or in trouble. Of course, shouting for help would probably work better.
5. Worried about their internet and cell phone use? Try Safe Text – a system enabling parents, for $5 a month, to monitor their children’s text-messaging. The system sends alerts when it detects potentially dangerous or inappropriate text messages, so the parents don’t have to review vast numbers of messages themselves. Similar things are out there for the home computer. Why bother teaching them internet safety? Just watch everything they do.
Ah, the joys of the information age. So many tools, so little time. It seems strange to me that parents need all these things. Whatever happened to talking with your children? Forming a relationship? Fostering good morals and ethics? Or have those fallen to the wayside as parents scramble to keep their children safe through money and things? Save your cash and take the time to be with your kids. You’ll all be better off in the long run.
Author Bio:
This is a guest post from Laura Backes, she enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet service in my area. You can reach her at: laurabackes8 @ gmail.com
image credit https://www.lapetite.com/blog/2015/07/top-tech-that-keeps-kids-safe-wearables-apps-sites-devices/