Why can't we chip our children? asks dh. After I bought dd a "emergency" wristband.

[Portofino]

DD is 8 and going off on a couple of trips on in the next month - school,holiday club things. I bought a wristband that allows you to record your details in the unlikely event she gets lost. Maybe over the top but....;

DH suggested that all children should get chipped instead (like animals?). His view is that if children are lost or abducted, then they would be easier to track down. I see flaws in this - basic human rights stuff - but can see some advantages. I said I would put it to the MN Jury!

Hmmm......couple of thog

oops...thoughts on this:

Hahahaha, my dh said the same thing when dd began playing out with her friends. She now has a phone which can be located.

If your kid got abducted surely the bastard that took them would slice the chip out of them?

Handy if just lost in the shopping centre I guess though. Still, it feels a bit weird... Children aren't animals.

1- it.might result in too relaxed a parenting style "hes chipped so we dont have to.worry about where he is"

2- removal - at what age.are you prepared.to 'let.go' amd what if parents dont tell their dcs they are chipped and never get them removed - could result in them being in danger of attack by vicious abusive parents who the kids try to get away from

3- cost - who.funds it?

4- data is held.by who.and viewed by who.and how safe would it be?

Now dna collection on birth otoh, I think we should do.

and presumably, if she's going on school trips etc, someone should be looking after her.
Didn't we all survive without them by telling our mums we would be home at a certain time and where we were going?

I can see no advantages to micro-chipping a child. None at all.

Well lost pets only get scanned if presented to a vet. If a child is old enough to talk then if they suddenly appear somewhere they shouldn't be/look like they are being held captive then someone can just ask them what's up.

Chips wouldn't help with children who have been murdered or are being kept somewhere hidden.

Well, no for a few reasons...

Children grow up into adults. Animals stay animals forever.

Children can usually tell people a few details about themselves which would aid a rescuer in reuniting them with their parent.

Missing children are taken a lot more seriously than missing pets and with electronic communication (email etc) there is no need for a "database" because any police force can email out a picture of a found child to every other police force in the country, enabling the force who is looking for the missing child to match up the information very quickly. Unless you're talking about tracking devices which is quite different.

Of course if you are talking about tracking devices that brings up a whole other can of worms... should parents be able to track their child's every move? Teenagers? Adult children? When would it be unacceptable?

Wouldn't it hurt and also be expensive. Also would it be compulsory for all children, if not, would implementing the systems even be cost-effective?

A rebellious teenager/determined child could cut or scratch the chip out if they really wanted to be found. Also of course a kidnapper could do this (so a higher chance of children being injured/hurt by an attacker)

I would like to chip and monitor everything.
I am constantly losing stuff and panicking.

Chipping works to establish identity, with a reader that you run over the body. As only the police etc would have readers, then your child has been found by the appropriate authorities and, chip or no chip, if you've sounded the alert you'll be reunited soon anyhow.

They do not work as tracking devices: the signal would have to be on all the time, and pretty strong to go through flesh. It needs batteries (think what's needed to power a car tracker). Where would the batteries be sited? You can't really out them inside, and if outside, you'd need to have a wire from implant to battery (easily spotted and ripped out, not to mention horrible to live with and the anti-infection precautions which would have to be taken in keeping the track open). It would only work if there were a dedicated frequency for devices, or via the mobile phone network (useless in places with no coverage, and accuracy variable depending on where masts are sited).

Chipping for the purpose of indentification? No.

A tracking device? Hell yeah! And i think it should be the law for them to keep it until they're old enough to decide for themselves whether to get it taken out.

Ok, so i'm not completely serious. But I have written my phone number on DS's arm at music festivals and i don't think that's too over the top. He's 2.2 yo and while i haven't yet lost him, he's quite 'spirited' so i figure it's only a matter of time. The thought of it scares me stupid though.

Because my son is not a dog. He's a person. And as a person he has certain rights.

Such as the right to not be treated like a dog.

If child got lost in a shopping centre, presumably they'd have to be taken to the police station to be scanned- so would take a lot longer for them to be reunited with the parent than if the shop staff simply made an announcement over the tannoy. It would mean a stranger would have to remove the child from the spot they got lost to do so. It would prove a carte blanche for kidnappers:

-What are you doing with that child?

-I'm taking her to the police to be scanned.

When ds got lost in Portsmouth years ago, I found him quickly because he did as instructed and stayed in the place where he first realised he was lost.

This situation could only have been complicated by rescuers trying to persuade him to come to the police station and be scanned. Besides, surely an 8yo knows their own name and the names of their parents and their school (if out on a school trip)?