Now that were getting closer to the big day, we watch the news and every now and then you hear about someone gone awry. There are a growing number of child locating devices out there, such as www.childlocator.com along with many others that actually incorporate useful features to enhance parents' lives. Meaning walkie-talkie to parent's celphone, GPS, games, nonsense like that. I'm torn half and half with the benefits of seeing vital signs from orbit, with the good ol' big brother cloud hanging above all our heads. Any thoughts?

This is a topic I'm divided on too.<br>On one hand, it would be nice to feel secure that you can locate your children anytime you want, on the other, technology isn't perfect. If you can access your kid's location from your computer or phone, who else can?<br>I watched a news program that featured a home security expert showing the news crew how easy it was to capture video feed from wireless home baby cameras.<br>He drove up a street in a car with a police scaner to find the frequency and a video recorder. He found and recorded a wireless monitor from a nice safe suburban home.<br>I will have to find the reference again, but I also recently read that children being abducted by strangers is a very rare occurance, (less than 2% of all kidnappings).<br>Still, I would feel better knowing that my children have a simple way to call me or 911 in an emergency.<br>Maybe an On Star for the kid's bike would help?<br>I think that the best child security comes from teaching them right and wrong and what to do when bad things happen. After that, all we can do is hope that they take the right action to help themselves or others.<br>A case in point, about 2-3 weeks ago a three year old girl who had been taught to dial 911 in emergencies at her daycare, called 911 after her mother passed out at home. The mother had a serious medical condition and her kid probably saved her life.

To me it's somewhat related to the computer nanny issue -- how much surveillance do you want to do on your kids? Some of it depends on your neighborhood, I guess. I like giving my kids some freedom to get out of earshot, to have a little room outside of direct adult observation. I actually think it is pretty important, but it comes with some risk. I'm all for good communication solutions (mostly so I can call them back for dinner), but I'm opposed to something that allows dad to sit on his ass all afternoon and not need to supervise or interact with kids.

Good point about being an involved dad.

I agree with dadnorth, ultimately the best defense is to teach your kids how to protect themselves and handle emergency situations. (Run Like Hell Screaming!) My uncle instructed his kids that in the event they were ever taken by a stranger, they should immediately soil themselves; you know the old steaming growler in the pants routine, and then start flinging dung every which way but loose. Bad thing is, they threatened to do this if you didn't play the games they wanted, so we played a lot of kick the can. They loved kick the can.

It's neat to see a whole bunch of diverse perspective on the topic, frankly I didn't think it would go that strongly in one direction or the other. I agree wholeheartedly that a device such as that is no substitute for good parenting skills. Taking a better look at that watch in general, it's almost hard to see the lines between the posh, the paranoid, the practical and the satisfaction of the cutting edge technology nut. I guess i've always been a gadget geek and there will always be something to spend your money on. There are even options out there which allow a chip to be implanted under the heel of a kid for medical tracing purposes. Can be see at www.verichipcorp.com These guys have been around for years, maybe 10-15 from what I can recall.<br><br>My only real attachment to something like that watch is this. I bought my god-daughter a pair of Disney Princess walkie-talkies for the reality of she's about 9 now and she goes about gallovanting accross the countryside with her fellow rabblerousers and is at times out of an earshout, which is fine, she knows everything I do in the means of survival and combat hapkido. So happen she was up north with her grandparents and they have a good sized parcel of land, partially in bear country. Not common but they pass thorugh from time to time. She takes one of these things everywhere with her. So happen she went for a walk in the back yard and lost her way. The first thing she did was stop and call for help. She was calm as could be when found, about an hour later, but point being, that could've gotten interesting and/or on the news. Turned out she only got about 100 yards away from where she started but we all know what things look like when we get turned around and have no landmarks to reference. The Disney talkies at 35 bucks off of Ebay paid for themselves in one shot. I guess my point to the entire thing is a device that like that watch has at least some practicality out there, but when used for the wrong purposes turns into a crutch for the lazy dad. Excellent points all the way accross the board.<br><br>Bri-

Based on the chip technology, these have been used on pets, and an incredible amount of tumors develop due to this foreign object being in there. I don't think the FDA would ever allow a chip technology unless it is based on a bio-acceptable material.<br><br>Logan's Run anyone? =)

My son has been using some of these issues to try and get a cell phone. He's 9 and would lose a phone instantly. I want to get him a phone as soon as I feel confident that the won't instantly lose it

We're expecting our first in August and this conversation has come up in our household on numerous occasions. My wife doesn't like the idea of a chip because, as was stated, technology isn't perfect. There are items out now, like Safety Tat, Kids Safety Bands, and Kiddy Card (we especially like the Kiddy Card one time use bands).<br><br>Honestly though, we will only use these as a last resort. We plan on teaching our child that it's important for him to stay close to us at all times when we go out. Children don't always obey, and we know that, but we would rather make him sit in a stroller and cry for a bit first than to pay money for these products. I honestly believe a lot of these items are just new ways for parents to think they don't have to keep an eye on their kids. It's okay to use them, but I think teaching your child and using other methods first should be done before going out and paying money for these things.