Guy at work told us this morning he puts a wrist tag on his son when they go out – an alarm goes off when the kid walks a given distance away from his parent.

I'm not a parent myself so hard to judge how I'd feel but I am a godfather and uncle and have been in situations where the safety of a child has been in my hands. But frankly this strikes me as deeply unhealthy behaviour,and slightly scary, for both the child and the parents. Walking ourselves into the world of George Orwell comes to mind.

Or would I feel differently if I was a father?

Loads of kids round my way wear ankle tags.

not really a substitute for 'keeping an eye on your child' as far as I can see.

Does the alarm go off on the kid or the parent (or both)? I could see my two having hours of fun with that game!

I'd just use my eyes to figure out where they are

At that age you don't let them out of your sight or you keep hold of them

"won't someone please think of the children"

A useful safeguard for parents who are concerned about the one rare moment when the child suddenly disappears. I don't think any sane parent would ever substitute technology for their own childminding duties.

Orwellian?? Please!

Like what uplink says. Sounds like parental laziness to me.

Will not stop them getting into trouble, or hurting themselves will it?

Agree with uplink – the tag thing seems wrong on so many levels to me, FFS do what youre supposed to do and keep an eye on your kids. Also, I know that horrible things do happen, but dont allow yourself to believe everything the media tells you, give your kids at least some chance of a 'normal' life.

does it point out where they are? if they're almost out of sight in a lot of situations it could be kinda hard working out where they are. seems like marketing based on daily mail fear in gullible lazy ****.

Loads of kids round my way wear ankle tags.

They're probably on ASBO's

A wrist tag sounds like luxury to me. When I was that age my Mother used to have me on 'reins' ie. a harness with about 10 ft of slack, as I had a habit of running the moment I saw anything of interest

Seved me being hit by cars several times apparently 😯

well woody, this doesn't stop your child being hit by a car but an alarm goes off if the vehicle drags them too far away before it stops.

PML @ jon1973

yep me too i used to have a harness/reins for my son when he was little, its so easy for the child to get distracted whilst out shopping ..then if you dont have proper hold of them -they are gone out of your sight within a blink of a second… does mothercare not do body harness these days ? its the right way to go !!!!! then you have control at all times !

But frankly this strikes me as deeply unhealthy behaviour,and slightly scary, for both the child and the parents. Walking ourselves into the world of George Orwell comes to mind.

Or would I feel differently if I was a father?

Totally agree – you might feel differently if you were a father, but only because then the constant fear-mongering we are exposed to might have more effective hooks to grab you with.

How sad.

The way my boy was this morning I would rather a warning when he is within a certain distance. 😈

if you need a tag and alarm to tell you where you three year old child is that is a serious fail in your parental duties – can you not just look after them yourself?
Father of a three year old

I cant decide if the other parent is lazy or paranoid.

Lol @ Roper – I think I know what you mean.

The wrist tag sounds bit like lazy parenting insofar as, pointed out above, it won't stop any incidents happening – you have to be pretty proactive with little ones, not reactive…

i always think of those that have their kids on a leash as being better off with a dog.

it just strikes me as shit parenting.

They're probably on ASBO's

I think that was what he meant.

To the OP – I wouldn't get one of these myself, but in the future kids will probably all be fitted with GPS chips when they're born.

Mark my words.

oh, and….

🙄 @ jon1973

@ junkyard. With this guy I think it's more a fear of not being a good enough parent. Using technology to achieve something he's scared he'll fail to do on his own. Bit like us insisting on thinking we need full suss to ride anything technical I guess 😉

I don't think it's lazy in itself but there is a big risk that you would start to rely on it rather than keeping an eye on your son and then when it goes off you wouldn't have a clue which direction to head in. I wouldn't

It's a bit like going faster on a bike than you can handle because you are wearing body armor and helmet(leaves can of worms open and runs…)

(edit – took too long writing that I see)

Another use for the kid leash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtMRddAIHx0

😉

Is it possible to have a wrist tag with alarm if one of the things comes within a certain distance of me? I'd be the first in the queue for one.

I'm very aware that I was once one of them but happily I grew out of it.

does the alarm go off when the infant starts playing with knives, kettle, moving cars, etc…

makes a change from trying to pick them up and they do that

'make my shoulders narrower than my rib cage'

thing by sticking their arms in the air so you can't carry them.

I don't think it's lazy in itself

I think it's lazy

but there is a big risk that you would start to rely on it rather than keeping an eye on your son

So what's the point of it if you still need to keep an eye on them?
Isn't that what it supposed to do – allow you to not keep them 100% in sight?

A different view point:
If the father is separated from his partner and had a badly fractured relationship with her, if she's all-controlling and has questioned his suitability to look after their child on more than one occation, with a view to probably ceasing visits based on him having a lassie fair approach to his parental style, then I applaud his actions.

Too many malicious, poisonous ex-partners out there (in the UK, mothers typically have custody of the children) trying to find ways of denying fathers from spending loving time with their children.

Sometimes things are not always as they might at first seem.

@To29er. Actually he's married 🙁

visits based on him having a lassie fair approach to his parental style, then I applaud his actions.

To me – putting a tag on the kid would make him less suitable to look after it not more.

OK.
It was worth pointing it out – even if it's not the case here.
It's very easy to draw conclusions when you only have part of the bigger picture, as I'm sure you'll appreciate.

Uplink's clearly never been in this situation, where if you're seen to stuff up, you might as well kiss goodbye to seeing your child (not kid) for 18 months as a bare minimum. The backlog that Derbyshire CAFCAS are experiencing, for example, and as a direct fallout from Baby P, is 9 months to get a report compiled on a child. I know as a pal is having to endure just this.

I'll get my coat…. 😉

i've just wasted another 30 minutes of my life on youtube.

the mother doesn't check the irony of her saying "oh look! a doggy"

alpin – what's the problem with reigns?

I can imagine if you were, for example, in a supermarket with your kid trying to do some shopping, they might be pretty useful. My little sister was insane/hyper and would do a runner at the first opportunity…

probably because she was on a leash. she was running for freedom.

She wasn't. I'm just asking….

I'm betting alpin doesn't have kids here – just a long shot 😉

I've got a 3 year old boy and a very fast 18 month old daughter, never has it crossed my mind to put them on leads, or tag them.
I happily go round the shops with them both walking with me, it's bloody hard work, but by paying attention to them I can stop them getting too far rom me when they are in a 'lively' frame of mind. (Mind you when they use team work and leg it in opposite directions, it's a different story!)

Some parents don't seem to care about their kids and this tag thing is just another way for them to pretend they are caring when they are just not interested or responsible enough to have mated with another human.

Just watch cars leaving a primary school carpark round here and see how many kids aren't strapped in but will go to casualty wearing Diesel clothes if they are in an accident.

Does my head in.

you're right, i don't.

and you know i'm right re. the leash……

"here boy!"