Why arent we all tagging our kids?

[COL1N]

Just reading up on buying an airtag as always losing stuff & started thought process of getting one to sew into DDs coat. She is only 2 so not a privacy/ stalking type issue I dont think- just if the worst happened and she was snatched or lost I could find her easily. Why doesn't everyone just do this as standard?!

@Lovemydoggie

What kind of crazy world do we live in? Tagging children,monitoring their phones ,worrying about sleepovers incase a parent is a paedo,worrying if a dad picks up from activity and so it goes on …bloody ridiculous…I genuinely think parents anxiety is going to send you all to an early grave ….just use your common sense !! My kids played at friends house ,I picked about 6 ,had sleepovers…can only remember a disaster because it was moth season and I had a bunch of hysterical 10 year olds …still al good and they are now functioning 20 plus year olds …. Just calm down…they will be ok …unless you are running a dealer den 🙄

What on earth does a disaster due to 'moth season' look like?

These items don't always work perfectly. There is always a way that they can fail.
I assume we're talking about Apple air tags and they work the same as sharing location via iPhone? It isn't entirely unlikely that the location would not update particularly quickly in a situation when you most need it.

We had this once or twice with DD, but her friends iPhone is always having problems with the location not updating correctly. I've had her mother on the phone to me several times because she's concerned that her DDs location was showing her being in a different location to where she should have been, each time she's been with me and DD in the car- exactly where she was expected!

If you do go ahead, please make sure you still teach DD what to do if she ever gets separated from you or her father.
With DDs friend, because her parents going they can keep tabs on her location, they've not told her how to keep herself safe out of the house. It's a bit of a nightmare because she's always getting herself into dangerous positions but her mum and dad are lulled into a false sense of safety.

I wish I had one of these when DS then aged 3 slipped my hand in IKEA and then a 40 minute game of hide and seek began.

The most terrifying, upsetting and horrific 40minutes of my life. IKEA locked the shop down. Customers out were checked that DS wasn't with them. We screamed his name, me, strangers in the shop who helped me, the staff. Police were called after 30minutes through fear someone had got him out of the shop before they manned the doors.

And then someone heard giggling in a display wardrobe on the other side of the 1st floor and yelled "he's here, the little boy is here"

I have never been so relieved but angry at the same time. It was a strange mix of emotions. 🤣 I grabbed him and hugged him, but then said rather firmly "why didn't you come out when everyone was calling your name!"

Police arrived and were just happy he had been found but they did say "next time mam is shouting your name, you should come out. Don't hide from mam" 🤦🏻‍♀️

Some kids are bolters. Ours have asd, and one is/was, although not as extreme as many.

We used to go to safe places like John Lewis where we could allow him to run up and down aisles and practice recall in relative safety. Others may think this appalling but if kids like ours are always on reins they will never be able to learn.

Don’t always assume bad parenting. It may just be much harder parenting.

@Lovemydoggie

What kind of crazy world do we live in? Tagging children,monitoring their phones ,worrying about sleepovers incase a parent is a paedo,worrying if a dad picks up from activity and so it goes on …bloody ridiculous…I genuinely think parents anxiety is going to send you all to an early grave ….just use your common sense !! My kids played at friends house ,I picked about 6 ,had sleepovers…can only remember a disaster because it was moth season and I had a bunch of hysterical 10 year olds …still al good and they are now functioning 20 plus year olds …. Just calm down…they will be ok …unless you are running a dealer den 🙄

I think you need to calm down. You are sounding a little deranged.

@BoredZelda

These didn't exist when my children were younger, and for various reasons, I could easily have lost them. That meant I had to work hard at ensuring their safety. we came up with a range of strategies to help me find them and them find me.

If we had had tags, I don't think we would have put that level of effort in. I think that developing the strategies that we did, was good for both them and me.

Yeah, using tech means we’ve all lost the ability to think, and are really lazy parents who can’t put in any effort.

This. I don't understand why the suspicion with using technology to enhance. It does not replace. People know tech can fail or behave erratically so it is not going to substitute for day-to-day vigilance. Perhaps it is technophobes who don't understand it who will totally drop the ball.

iphones Find My app. I don't stop asking my dcs where they are going when they are out and when will they be back. Our house is burglar proofed. Webcam. Car has dashcam. We are thinking of getting a ring doorbell. We hardly ever check any of these but know the footage is there if we needed to check back nor do we relax our security with these in place. When we work from home using VPN, our employers can monitor our work. What privacy?

We are totally sleep walking into a survelliance society.

It's 29 years to the week that James Bulger was taken

I've been thinking of doing the same.

My three year old ran off in a large playground when I was breastfeeding my newborn. She knew exactly what she was doing - she ran straight into and through a bush / maze type construction and out the other side.

I'd just had a c section and by the time I'd stood up, put boob away, had baby steady etc she was gone further than I could see and couldn't follow. She then proceeded to hide (in a different bit of the park) as I frantically ran around doing the 'I'm looking for a little girl wearing xx' thing and calling her name.

In the space of time it took to find her she could have easily been abducted, left the park or wandered into the road. If I'd been able to track her I'd have known which direction she was headed at least.

(Before anyone says anything- I never thought this could happen to me. I'm an anxious parent, read stranger danger books, am strict about running off, use reins etc. And this wasn't the only time she did it either. Her impulses are stronger than logic or consequence it seems)

This. I don't understand why the suspicion with using technology to enhance. It does not replace. People know tech can fail or behave erratically so it is not going to substitute for day-to-day vigilance. Perhaps it is technophobes who don't understand it who will totally drop the ball
But it does act as a substitute for normal behaviour and interaction. Just look at the number of threads on here where posters are asking for recommmendations for apps that tell you when to feed your baby and change their nappy. There was another thread a while ago where people were using Alexa to tell their children how to get ready for school in the morning ( using a timer function I believe). Apparently some children obey Alexa, but not their parents. The parents were ok with that. Would you be?

@Seraphinesupport

btw to those that say watch your kid. Lots of kids are kidnapped right out of there parents hands. ever watched that video where the kid was standing by her mum and got dragged out the shop by the man? Yeaaah

Lots of kids aren't kidnapped. It is a very rare occurrence, that doesn't justify tracking your child.

Also they can be very inaccurate.
Friend had one on their dogs collar and lost sight of dog. Tracker said dog was nearby and they were still searching and calling when neighbour phoned to say dog was outside their home, a mile away.

Over the years there have been all sorts of safety devices, some old-school and some technological, to help if your child goes wandering off or is snatched. It's fine if you want to do this in this way although as people say, the coat may get discarded but it still might help. May be a pain when you want to wash it having to take it out or if Grandpa or someone washing the coat without knowing not to? Whether it would be fine once your child is 16, or from the age of say 12 without telling them that you are tracking them, is a different matter.

Cf your rights as a parent to monitor your child's phone.

Your children are your responsibility and there would be nothing sinister about you monitoring their whereabouts for a good number of years! (It would be best if it was by consent as they get into their teens.)

Apparently some children obey Alexa, but not their parents. The parents were ok with that. Would you be?

No, I don't delegate thinking to technology. Just because some people are stupid is not a reason to dislike technology. Would you prefer to going back to digging around in the dirt with sticks?

No, I don't delegate thinking to technology. Just because some people are stupid is not a reason to dislike technology. Would you prefer to going back to digging around in the dirt with sticks?

I like technology and digging around in the ground with sticks.

@blueshoes

Apparently some children obey Alexa, but not their parents. The parents were ok with that. Would you be?

No, I don't delegate thinking to technology. Just because some people are stupid is not a reason to dislike technology. Would you prefer to going back to digging around in the dirt with sticks?

Just because you can do something doesn't me you should. Just because you have technology doesn't mean its a good thing for humanity.

But it does act as a substitute for normal behaviour and interaction. Just look at the number of threads on here where posters are asking for recommmendations for apps that tell you when to feed your baby and change their nappy.

I have never seen anyone asking for this, let alone any number of threads. But how funny you think of this was the case, people would simply stop interacting with their babies.

There was another thread a while ago where people were using Alexa to tell their children how to get ready for school in the morning ( using a timer function I believe). Apparently some children obey Alexa, but not their parents. The parents were ok with that. Would you be?

It isn’t that children obey Alexa, it is that timers are a really useful function for some children, and Alexa has an easy to use timer built in. We had an old fashioned egg timer for our daughter when she was younger, should we be concerned she obeyed the egg timer but not us.

You can’t be so unable to grasp that a parent nagging their child to get a move on is far less effective than setting them tasks with timers?

Just because you can do something doesn't me you should.

Just because you’ve always done something, doesn’t mean it’s better.

Just because you have technology doesn't mean its a good thing for humanity.

Just because you didn’t used to have technology, doesn’t make it worthless now.

My late DM was obsessively overprotective about my safety and gave me an incredibly hard time because of it into adulthood. She never learnt to tolerate any anxiety, she was just unpleasant til we did what she said. So it never got any better. She'd have loved these tags!

I was talking to a colleague about this the other day. She and I are both seriously considering doing this with our kids.

@COL1N

I dont know! She is never out of my sight but these things happen.

Hardly ever. More chance of winning the lottery I bet

@RedToothBrush

We are totally sleep walking into a survelliance society.

Too late - we're already in one

I actually think this is a really good idea. Sure, it's not fair safe but it has the potential to prevent a really bad situation. The likelihood of needing it might be low but the devastation of a missing child is enough to justify action to prevent it.

@RedToothBrush

We are totally sleep walking into a survelliance society.

Too late - we're already in one

Absolutely - read anything by David Lyon.

It's incredibly unlikely that any child will be randomly abducted.

However, kids get lost all the time,and this might be a good way of finding them

@RedToothBrush

We are totally sleep walking into a survelliance society.

Ermm. Fairly sure that we're the most CCTVed country in the world, the overwhelming majority have smart phones that tell companies our location at any given time and our browsing habits, the government know where you live, who you live with, where you work, how much you earn, what car you drive, where you travel etc