Thursday, 23 July 2009
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Tattoos for Tots? Microchips may be next.
In a society where latch key kids are as common as 7-year olds with cell phones it is not surprising to find a thriving product market for "safety-conscious" parents. Who has not seen supposedly sophisticated parents walking their toddlers on the ends of brightly colored leashes (my apologies - "child safety restraints")? Let me be clear- no matter how you dress it up - the idea for those "restraints" came directly from some exhausted or distracted parent who thought "Gee, if only I could keep little Peter on a leash..."- the rest is clever marketing.
The newest item touted in the interest of child safety are Tottoos (as in "tot tattoos") - customized temporary tattoos that list a parent's phone number under the message "If I am lost, please call." They can also be used to identify an allergy or other medical condition, as in "I have a peanut allergy." The inventors Virginia and Willie Lu, of Urbana, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC., and the parents of five remind others on Tottoos.org that "No matter how careful we are, children can wander off, fall behind, or otherwise find themselves alone and afraid. The worry and anguish we feel when we lose track of our child for even a moment is immeasurable." So in other words "Buy our product."
Some people understandably treat pets as their children but where do we draw the line and not treat our children like pets. However well intended this product may be it should only be a secondary form of child safety with a set of eyeballs being the first. Why stop with tattooing our children? Why not install pet-like microchips with GPS tracking? Anyone looking to invest?
My questions is this. Whatever happened to parental r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y? That is the entire definition of a parent. One who is responsible for someone who cannot be responsible for his/herself. Whatever happened to walking with (not in front nor behind) your child and holding his/her hand? Whatever happened to not allowing your child to have unsupervised access to the internet and the child predators that lurk there? Does a 7-11 year old really need a cell phone? Funny, todays' parents (who coincidentally were yesterdays' children) seemed to get along fine without them just one generation ago.
We have become a society of increasing "freedoms" for our children. We brag about how intelligent and independent our children are but aren't we just ever so slightly shirking from our inherent responsibilities? We claim to want our children to be independent but maybe it is our freedom from responsibility that we actually seek. A smart guy once said "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." With more "freedom", invariably comes more opportunity for the unforseen. Let do our damn jobs and be what our children need us to be- not their best friends but their loving parents.
A lost child with a tattoo it still lost.
In 2007 the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported that 11,700 children were reported missing. Of those 10,952 were recovered. For more information or to report a missing or exploited child please contact the NCMEC at 1-800-The Lost (843-5678)
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- From: BLAKCEO@xanga
- Name: bLaKcEo
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Comments (36)
I think the tottoos are a cute idea. I won't be using it for my child, but it's a very simple temporary way to mark your kid, especially for special outings like 4th of July fireworks where kids tend to wander off in big crowds. IMO, using tottoos IS r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-l-e. Nobody INTENDS to lose their child. This is protection against the unexpected. Don't assume this couldn't ever happen to you, cuz you may wish you didn't.
"If I am lost call 123-456-7890"? How about "If you would like to kidnap me, demand ransom by calling 123-456-7890"
I think the thing that bothers me most about this is the fact that if your child wanders off, you're going to be paged over the intercom or what not. If your child is kidnapped, guess what? They're not going to call. Maybe I'm just ignorant, but I always sort of thought that kids lost for longer than, oh, an hour tops, were kidnapped, not wandering around the grocery store/amusement park/whatever...so yeah, when I have kids, they'll be staying right next to me.
I'm of a mixed mind on this. Yes, parents are losing their note of responsibility in well, parenting. I've got kids outside my apartment building at all hours of the night, unattended, running around in the parking lot. So, sure, I see the overcrowded mall rat being swept away with the flow of people, that tottoos thing might work. However, if you dip into the mind of a kidnapping pedophile for a second we have a problem. TEMPORARY tottoos. If you're going to go as far as tagging the kid, make sure it isn't coming off without some serious work. I'd respond to a child screaming at the top of its lungs more if I knew that it wasn't just some little bugger whining about not getting his lollipop. Sorry, got stuck in the bad guy head for a second.
Anywho, yeah I'd invest in the GPS tracker thing. If only because it was more reliable than the temp tattoo idea. I currently have a thumbdrive anklet that I put on my kid with files containing contact information, a photo of my kid, his vital stats, and if I could put a GPS chip in it, I would. If he goes on a field trip, to someone's house for a party, anything that involves him being out of my sight for more than half hour, the anklet goes on.
I watch my kid like a mother should. I know where he is. I've taught him to tell me where he is going and to definitely not to talk to strangers. We have a safe password (remember those?) he's met all the people I consider safe for him to be picked up by. I've make a point of meeting the parents of his friends, if they don't want to meet, my son can't play with their kid. That's about it. What more can I do without tethering him to a pole in the yard?
That' a joke, BTW. I don't have a yard.
You know, it's not completely about parental responsibility.... I am a responsible parent, but I also have a child with special needs. She is three years old and VERY crafty. She cannot speak and cannot explain to anyone where she lives or who she belongs to. I have not invested in this new technology, but you know, it's really not AS bad of an idea as some people think it is. For parents of children who have psychological/mental issues or parents of children with special needs, it's really not a horrible idea.
I don't see anything wrong with the tattoos. When you go out with your child or even children it can be difficult to keep track of them, especially in large crowds. Sometimes children will let go of your hand without you even noticing. (And there isn't a single parent out there that can say "That's never happened to me." If you say it you're lying to yourself and everyone else. Get over it.) It's an EXTRA precaution. It's no different than giving your child a safety ID card or a safety bracelet. As for the "child leashes" for GENERATIONS people have been tying ropes around their children's waist and "tugging" them along. Now these restraints provide a little something to look at and comfort for the child. I'd rather be safe by using a restraint than risking my child letting go of my hand even for a split second.
I actually like this idea. I don't think people will buy it and then think, Oh now I don't have to keep an eye on my child. In fact, I'd expect that most parents who buy this are the overprotective type who don't let their kids out of sight for even a second. They'd be paranoid enough to use this product.
I don't think it's such a bad idea --it's like an ID bracelet or pinning contact info to the inside of your kid's jacket. It's not meant as a substitute for watching the kids, it's meant as an additional safeguard.
go to be honest I would not use these for everyday type of things but when the kids head out with the school for feild trips I would for sure! I love the idea--a little extra peace of mind when they head out on trips like that!
@they_call_me_steffyjean@xanga - I completely agree. I'm a Navy wife and my husband and I were apart for 6 months while he was in boot camp and school, and I had to take care of our two toddlers (who are now 2 and 3 years old) by myself. One of those times involved a trip to Disney (with a good friend of mine, but one who does not have children and really doesn't know how to watch them). Those child restraints were AMAZING for that trip. It allowed them a few minutes to get out of the stroller and walk around without me having to be super fearful that they would be lost. Of course I ALSO held their hands while they were in those harnesses, but if they let go for a second, I didn't freak out immediately because I also had a hand on the harness, too. Oh, and those harnesses were good because they doubled as backpacks to carry their sippy cups. ;)
I would use it...I would use whatever I have to use to keep my child safe. Tottoos, microchips, gps watches.....(which, the kids I nanny for have gps watches...they were really cool, look like regular watches but I had a monitor and if they went so far from the monitor, mine started beeping like crazy to alert whoever that it's too far.)
I like harnesses too. Kids are fast, even when the mot watchful, responsible parent is with them...they are still fast.
@Morningstarrising@xanga - They come in handy. I take care of three kids. The oldest being 4 (turning 5 in Novemember) and the twins are 2 (turning three in August). Jordan (4) is big for his age, about the height and weight of the average 7 year old, so he can't really ride in a stroller, and it's too much of a hassle to pull a wagon and push the stroller at the same time, and still a big hassle to try and fit three kids into a wagon. So, I like to let him walk right along side me as I push the stroller. He tends to wander off, and having the restraints on him gives me ease of mind ebcause I know he's not going to walk off with a complete stranger or try and climb in with the polar bears at the zoo (again! LOL).
It irritates me that you automatically assume that parents who use leashes (and most of us call them leashes) and make use of other aids are irresponsible parents. All it takes is one second for them to dash beneath a clothes rack, or around a corner, to lose a child. One second. A temporary tattoo on a child who is too young to tell an adult their parent's name or number is not a bad idea.
(And honestly kidnappers and pedophiles are going to take the kid, marked or not, so quit using that as a reason why NOT to condone this option)
When I was younger, my ex-husband and I were in Sam's Club. I had my infant daughter in her carseat on the cart, and my two year old son next to me when the cashier dropped the Sam's club pizza. It broke. My ex-husband offered to get a new one, while I was getting ready to pay for everything, and I looked down to see my son was gone. I looked up toward where my ex had gone, and saw a small child near him, but when he came back, he was childless. I freaked out. He thought our son had stayed with me; I thought the child was with him. None of it mattered bc MY SON WASN'T WITH US!!
Have you ever had Code Adam called on your child? Have you ever watched the entire staff of a Sam's Club scramble to shut down the store? It's one of the most frightening things to ever happen to a parent. Ever. They found him waiting on the curb outside, calm as could be, just waiting. After that, everywhere he went, he was on a leash or in the stroller.
We didn't lose him bc we were irresponsible parents. We lost him, bc we were human. Someone could've snatched him in those five minutes--yes, FIVE MINUTES--that he was gone, but instead a good Sam's Club employee took his hand and brought him back inside. Had we been elsewhere in the store, had he slipped away and we'd been looking for him, that tottoo would've been a possible way for the employee to reunite us.
It isn't always about parents not being responsible. When it comes to raising a child with special needs, crap happens. Parenting a child with a developmental disability such as Autism Spectrum Disorder requires a near perfection that parents of neurotypical children can't understand (unless they have experience with this sort of thing).
I learned the hard way that if my husband isn't home and I am the only adult in the house with my son, I can't even use the restroom with the door closed nor can I shower...even if I think my son is asleep. My son has gone so far as use deception to try to sneak out, such as asking me to do something (such as prepare a meal) that requires me to be in one room while he tries to sneak out the back door. We have had to buy double barrell locks, child proof latches for windows, installing alarms that will sound if my son opens a door or window. If I turn my back on him for even two seconds in a store, he is gone. I have to make sure that his hand is always on the cart and he is always in my eyesight and within an arm's reach. The number one cause of death for individuals with ASD is drowning. Unlike NT kids, too many people with ASD have no fear of danger and do not understand consequences...all of this on top of their communication difficulties. And unlike most other children, kids on the spectrum don't always grow out of these challenges and parents are required to maintain this hyper vigilance for the rest of their lives. I am fairly certain that nobody can be that perfect for that long.
Having something such as a tattoo, a Project Life Saver location device, or an implanted GPS device would never allow me to not be hyper vigilant but it would help save my son's life should I ever have a not perfect moment....which all parents have, whether they care to admit it or not. I actually look forward to the day when a microchip GPS is made available to those with loved ones who are developmentally disabled or suffer from dementia.
I like the tattoo idea. Only thing I wonder about, is where would you decide to put it. And if it could wear off quickly. Something like a necklace or a bracelet or anklet seem to be a very good idea. I don't think we NEED the tottoos. But it's an interesting idea. It's pretty neato.
obviously a lot of people have more than two kids. and they only have two hands. so yeah, the kids are gonna wander off sometimes. My mom has 4 kids, and at least two of us got lost once. She used a leash on my brother because he wouldn't stay with her. I thought it was pretty responsible of her.
i think the tottoos are a pretty good idea!
I had 3 singletons in a row and never felt the need for a child leash. I now have two year old twins which brings about entirely different safety concerns. I cannot and will not keep my children caged in their stroller every time we need to leave the house. Children need to walk and be able to see and explore things. When you only have one child you can hold a hand and dig in the diaper bag for a tissue at the same time. With 2, or more, this is impossible. The leashes give you an extra hand in keeping your children safe and are the MORE responsible option not less. It also helps teach your child to walk in close proximity to the rest of the family particularly since we still insist on hand holding even while the leash is on.
Also as some parents have pointed out children are not all the same. I was lucky, my oldest 3 were pretty naturally compliant. OTOH, I have watched friends with particularly energetic toddlers, and a couple with downs syndrome children, try everything possible and the child still bolts or wanders the second the chance arrives. In their cases resulting to leashes was the safest, most responsible option. So the next time you see a child with a leash give the parents a break. They are doing everything they can to keep their child (who you know nothing about) as safe as possible.
@Rosewulf@xanga - I'm of a mixed mind on this. Yes, parents
are losing their note of responsibility in well, parenting. I've got
kids outside my apartment building at all hours of the night,
unattended, running around in the parking lot. So, sure, I see the
overcrowded mall rat being swept away with the flow of people, that
tottoos thing might work.
I do agree SOME parents have lost any sense of responsibility, or maybe it's common sense, I'm not sure. We have little neighbor girls, from 5 - 8 years old wandering up and down our street unsupervised and ringing my doorbell at 8:30 at night to play. ????? Now we live in a fairly safe neighborhood on a small cul-de-sac street but still a 5 and 8 year old wandering out around near dark? It boggles my mind. The parents have NO idea where they are and rarely bother to check up on them so if they would be kidnapped it could be hours before anyone even thought to look for them and realize they are missing.
It also blows me away when I see young kids walking home from school or the busstop alone. EVERY YEAR in our area we have reports of suspicious men approaching children walking home from school and quite frankly if I was a pedophile this is when I would snag a kid. There are lots of kids to choose from and hardly an adult in sight. Sigh....
ooh yeah, i heard about this microchip stuff.. pretty creepy. i wonder if aliens have telephones.
Well, if they had microchips with GPS tracking, at least if they were kidnapped, your chances of finding them would be pretty good.
It's def not a bad thing to have. I am a very overprotective mother, and I am ALWAYS one step behind or in front of my daughter. At the park, I don't keep my eyes off of her. However, some toddlers NEED this. My niece is extremely hyper and constantly running. It's very hard to keep up with her. Her mother has never lost her, but I can see the day when she does. Of course her mom would still have to keep an eye on her at all times.
I was at a parade the other day and actually saw a little girl running away from her parents, and her parents didn't notice. She had alot of siblings that the mother was looking after. Of course I ran up to the mother and pointed it out, but what if I wasn't there? Instead of taking hours to find the parents of that little girl, they could just call that number.
My techno-geek husband would love to micro-chip w/GPS our kids simply for the technology of it all. That said, we are parents who love the "Free Range Kids" blog and support trusting in the numbers: Your kid is still more likely to be taken by someone they know than a total stranger, with Jacob Wetterling still being the worst case scenario, that has not been repeated. In the book/blog "Free Range Kids" by Lenore Skenazy, appears the following, make of it what you will:
"If you, for some strange reason, WANTED your child to be KIDNAPPED
AND HELD OVERNIGHT BY A STRANGER, HOW LONG WOULD YOU HAVE TO LEAVE HIM
OR HER OUTSIDE, ALONE AND UNSUPERVISED HERE IN AMERICA, FOR THIS TO BE
STATISTICALLY LIKELY TO HAPPEN?
The answer, crunched for me by Warwick Cairns, author of How to Live Dangerously is this: 750,000 years."
Take that, FOX AND CNN and Nancy Grace and your constant bad news. How about some good news of random strangers helping lost kids? Happens everyday, but we don't talk about that. Do not let TV tell you how dangerous it is for your kids.
Stupid idea. just hold the kid's freakin' hand and watch them, don't put them on a leash and let them run into a sewar hole !
'They can also be used to identify an allergy or other medical condition, as in "I have a peanut allergy."' That would be a main benefit, IMO. The last child's birthday party I attended was in a closed off area where a lot of the parents dropped their kids off and returned for them later. Having that stamped on an out stretched arm in such an event would be a good thing.
Perhaps some parents are fleeing responsibility...I know we've all seen at least a dozen different parents that obviously should have given the idea of having children some - any, really - thought before doing it. But the parents that I've met whom preach that they want their children to be independent are really in the mind set of, "I can't be there to hold Timmy's hand every moment of ever day for the rest of his life so...maybe he should have the faintest idea of how to take care of himself and act responsibly in the outside world before he's 18 and, hopefully, moving out on his own." Completely valid and the stance that I take with our kids.
I really don't think any parent can watch their child ALL of the time. Sometimes you have to look at the road while driving. Sometimes you have to look up and smile and thank the Barista who just made your coffee. Sometimes you have to free your hands and your eyes and dig in your purse for your wallet so you can pay for your purchases at the gap. How creepy would it be if a mother LITERALLY never took her eyes or hands off her children? Sat there staring at them all night, followed them around the backyard staring at them while they're playing with their friends. No, this doesn't happen. Even the most protective of parents is going to sometimes feel it is enough to just know where their child is and to designate a time and place where their child has to check in with them. What about those times they're visiting friends' houses down the street or attending a day camp? What about mothers that only have two hands, two eyeballs, and more than two children? What about when you're at a park or amusement park and you have a ton of kids with you and some of the older ones want to go on one ride and the younger ones want to go on another and the rides are fairly close together so you instruct the older ones to stick together and designate a meeting point after they finish their ride? Yes, there are places where every parent keeps a close eye on their children, but children can sneak off in a split second. Once my grandma was wheeling my little sister in her stroller at a theme park and she let go to tie her shoelace, standing right next to the stroller the whole time, and when she looked up, the stroller was gone! My aunt, mother, cousins, etc. were all standing around her too and everybody had happened to be looking at a ride or attraction or talking at the moment and suddenly everyone was freaking out. It turned out they were standing on a road that was at sort of a slope, so the stroller had just started rolling down the slight hill and was way down at the bottom of it. They quickly spotted it. Basically, it can happen to anyone, and I know so many fantastic parents who ended up with a lost child. If you LITERALLY always have your eyeballs and your hands glued to your child, then wow, I find you creepy.