It can take only a moment of distraction to lose a child. Any parent will tell you that they only looked away for a minute and when they turned around again their child was gone. It’s that split second where a parent’s heart skips a beat and they fear the worst.
But even if your child hasn’t been kidnapped you still worry what’s happened, where they are and how long it will take to find them. And you very quickly start to feel like a bad parent or guardian for letting them wander off. Of course, it happens to everyone. Children are naturally curious. It doesn’t take much for them to get distracted by a bunch of balloons, an icecream stall around the corner or a bunch of kids playing Need for Speed in the appliance store next door. Before you know it it’s like they’ve vanished into thin air, particularly in a crowded place where they are dozens of kids around.
What’s the solution to kids going missing?
So how do you avoid that desperate few minutes (or hours if they’re particularly difficult to locate) of racing around a shopping mall like a mad thing searching for your child? You could use a leash to keep them by your side but chances are that’s probably not an option – you would quickly get tired of having them tied to your side and there’s every chance they’d get grumpy about it too, particularly if spotted by their pals from daycare.
What about a GPS child tracking solution? There are several available on the market and they’re generally straightforward to use.
The package normally includes a small, lightweight device (the GPS unit) that can be carried or attached to your child’s clothing, belt, or backpack. The parent can monitor the child’s movements via the internet (could be accessed using a smartphone) or be setup to automatically receive alerts when their child goes into certain predetermined areas.
With updates sent every two minutes and a location that is accurate to within a couple of meters, you’ll always have the peace of mind that knowing where your child is can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
Is kid tracking an invasion of privacy?
Of course some might complain that tracking kids using GPS invades their privacy or civil liberties. Even kids, particularly when they get into the teenage years, may have an aversion to being tracked by GPS. It might feel too much like Big Brother, or that they can’t be trusted.
Legally there is nothing stopping parents using GPS to track their children below a certain age (varies depending on laws in your local country or state, normally somewhere between 18 and 21) but in some instances it might cause more problems than it solves. Parents need to make their own judgment call on whether the situation warrants GPS tracking.
If a parent or guardian deems that the safety of the child is at risk, then a little discomfort or nuisance-value is a small price to pay at the end of the day for the safety and peace of mind that it affords a parent or caregiver.