To be seriously considering getting a child GPS tracker?

[Boomingmarvellous]

Part of me is saying it's crazy over protective parenting, but the other part is remembering a couple of occasions of sheer sick terror when DS1 wandered off and DS2 is coming up to that stage.

Give me a reality check please.

www.child-angel.com

This sort of tracker isn't terribly helpful, as it can only narrow it down to which cell site the device it's in. So if your DC have wandered off in the park, and all it can tell you is that they're in the cell site which covers the park, it doesn't help you find them. Cell site size varies, and accuracy depends on how many it is pinging (as they overlap, and can narrow it down an intersection) assuming they all work and there are no factors which interfere with signal.

It might be useful if you think they'll wander a long way (you'll know roughly which way to head).

I can completely understand you reluctance to hold hands all the time or put reigns on.
I wanted my dcs to learn how to behave on a pavement, at a museum from early on. Not teach them to hold the pram.
So I have done what you are describing, teaching to stay near by etc
Have they ever been lost? Dc2 never. Dc1 once (very specific circumstances).

I can see why you are thinking about that device. My issue would be that once you Have such a device, you tend to relax, even if you dont intent to, and to rely on it beeping rather than being extra vigilant. This is human nature!
The other risk us for your child to find the alarm hilarious and to make a game out of going ever so slightly out of range.

Good point medotrina
I was wondering too about needing a connection for your phone(eg will it work everywhere incl the countryside, in a museum with thick walls and no signal etc)

I would definitely have had this if had been available more cheaply. I had three small ones on my own at once, and they were all bolters. I've lost the occasional one all over the place (only for minutes normally, thankfully, but still).

Youngest DS is now 4, and refuses to walk anywhere more than 100 metres without complaining. Go figure.

well ive lost sight of mine before but i wouldnt get a GPS

Obedient just isn't a word I've ever heard anyone use for another human, though my dogs enjoyed obedience classes.

Wood. Yes DS1 twice but ds2 not so far, although he tried hiding in clothes once. DS1 Not seriously lost the first time, but the second needing the supermarket tannoy system. Terrifying. I just don't want to feel that dreadful ever again.

The boys are generally good and keep near me at the moment but I am haunted by my supermarket experience. I guess I'll just carry on as I am and hope we never have a repeat.

When dc1 was lost, he was much more lost than that however, that experience also taught him that gettig lost wasn't a pleasant thing (I did the same as a child. Not on purpose but I still remember very vividly having to ask for help to find my mum and was ever so careful afterwards).
Getting lost in that osrt of environment where there is in effect very little risk can actaully be a good lesson for them.,

Personally I think you're nuts to consider it. At that age, reins are the way to go. I've got twins so it can be done. There is a time and a place to let them roam freely and in a busy public place is not it, unless it's an enclosed play park, in which case station yourself near the exit in case lo follows someone out bitter voice of experience. Incidentally, I've since trained all 4 of my dc to return toe when I blow a whistle. This means I can let them roam our local park/ field freely and not worry too much.

I used body harness and dog leads on my twins when they were at this stage, very similar to the little back packs you see now. (These hadn't come out at that time).

Even then we had a couple of scary moments. DTD1 once bolted after a kite, while I was distracted by no.2 having a hissy fit about something, I'd let go of the leads while setting up a picnic. And DTD2 (who is now the most sensible teenager I know) utterly vanished in an enormous playground with swimming pools etc in Germany, gone for half an hour! She'd been happily playing with children from two other families who each assumed she belonged to the other. She also disappeared on a beach while I was dealing with her sister having covered herself in something horrible. I looked left, I looked right, it was a fairly quiet beach. Then someone else gasped and pointed up. She was most of the way to the top of the cliff!

OP I think I would have considered one of these devices too.

Also £100 is comparatively cheap compared to the ones you can get for pets.

If it works on GPS it won't function in a museum anyway, or anywhere else that doesn't have a clear view of the sky.

Difficult to shop with reins or a wrist strap. He won't sit in the trolley

Difficult, ok, impossible, no. It's far easier than chasing after a child. As for won't sit in the trolley? For goodness sake he us 2! There are times a child HAS to do what you need them to do. Times when you can't give them the choice and you have to be firm.
I know I will get a backlash for that but to be honest, people come up with excuses when they can't control a situation.
My friends child would never sit in a shopping trolley, ever. He would have a holy tantrum. When I took him, he sat in the trolley fine. The difference is the person in charge, not the child.

Take him to the vet and get him microchipped. It's the only way.

Gottagetmoving

agree

why cant a two yr old sit in a pushchair rather than run and hide in a shop