Can you electronically tag your children?

Question

When my daughter is old enough to go out to play, I would like to be able to track her in case she wanders off further than she is permitted.

a) is there anything ethically wrong with that ?(clue: the answer is NO lol)

b) is there anything on the market which could be used for this purpose?

redneck - the government already tracks most of our movements anyway! Why shouldnt I be able to do the same? I am doing it to protect my daughter as there are a lot of sickos out there.

Kids ARENT sensible!! They learn that eventually. Unfortunately that lesson comes all too late for some kids... I dont want to restrict my daughter too much i want her to go out and play, but i want her to be safe too.

thanks for all your responses - i disagree with one or two of them - probably cos i dont subscribe to the laissez-faire school of parenting.But i respect your right to have your opinion.

Kids need to be protected and if there is something on the market to help me do that then I will use it!

Answer 1

There are lots of GPS systems for this purpose. I believe they are developing mobile phones with GPS right now.

Nothing ethically wrong with that at all and I don't blame you in the slightest for being cautious.

Answer 2

The radio chips that you insert into your pet are about the size of a grain of rice. The elecronic tags that courts use to track criminals are the size of a cellphone. You cannot put that in your child.

This is not just ethically wrong but morally. You are talking about 'modifying' your daughter. She is a human being not Robocop.


By the way I read your additional details, there arent as many 'sickos' as you would like to think. Do you actually know what the chance is that your daughter could be abducted? It's actually more likely that a member of her family would do it. Why don't you understand that an electronic tag can't protect her? It's a passive device. It can't call the police. It can't fight attackers. It can't protect your daughter. YOU can protect your daughter but not like this. Your fear and paranioa is more likely to harm her than any random person.
'Kids aren't sensible'? I think you need to give your daughter a little more credit. And if she isn't sensible, who's fault is that? It's not her fault that's for sure. (clue: the answer is YOU lol)

Answer 3

Don't kid yourself, this cannot protect your daughter. You want a screen or gadget that will give you her precise location, something like a sat nav map with a dot on it? An electronic gadget cannot keep her safe, all it can do is track her. Rules keep kids safer, their behaviour keeps kids safer. And they learn that from you.
The best thing you can do to protect your daughter is have an open relationship so she can talk to you about anything that is on her mind. She needs to be able to tell you if she is unhappy with your boyfriend, or family friend, or neighbour or whoever and have you listen.
She needs to feel safe in her own home and with you, but not by making her scared of everything that is outside the door.
You explain that rules are there for her own protection, not to spoil her fun.
You teach her never to go off with anyone, not even if she knows them.
You need to empower your daughter, to teach her to make safe choices.

You are not talking about your childs safety, you are talking about your fear that she will be abducted.
Abduction is the least likely harm to come to her.

You are not talking about a tag, which is used to identify a pet or piece of property; you are talking about a tracking device. They are two very different things.
Say she goes out of range. Then what do you do? Call the cops? If it turns out she was rebelling against the tag, how many times do you think you can cry wolf before they tell you to go look for her yourself?
Your tag says "I don't trust you". She will never get over that lack of trust you had in her.

Answer 4

their are some devises in the making.

but you do realise she will just leave it at a friends while she goes were she wants to. if you cant trust her not to go off you should not let her out at all. also i hope you don't complain when the government start to track were YOU go.

*edit. their are sickos out their. thats why we should teach our kids to be sensible. not grossly invade their privacy. + how would this keep her safe? she gets mugged and your going to run all the way acoss town to help her befor she get hurt?

**edit2. when dose protection become dangrus? she would be very safe locked in her room but it would not be much of a life. i know you want to protect her. and i respect that. but this is life. somtimes its dangers and somtimes it hurts. smother that and you stop her living.

Answer 5

MORE IMPORTANT>>> TEACH SELF DEFENCE AND HOW TO FIGHT SNEAKY AND DIRTY...

Ie aim to punch in the nuts and if an adult threat to get vicious with things like metal pens...


YES you can get the system in mobile phones. Plus look up security and survailance companies.


You can also get a proximity alarm (often for use in wallets)... if the two bits get separated over any distance one alarm goes off.


Also it would be good to program text messages inot the phone Im in trouble come and get me etc.

Saw a phone company doing the phone tracking system but its only accurate to a certain radius.

Answer 6

drunkredneck45-Actually, if it's in her body it would be very difficult for her to leave behind.

It's not so hard for me to imagine this. We tag dogs and cats for goodness sakes. Why couldn't we protect kids similarly? I would want the device to work like a Lo-jack that's used to track a stolen car. I'd get one for my son.