GPS Tracking Your Kids

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

Let’s get this out of the way now, my wife and I are a little nuts when it comes to certain things. We admit this and accept this. We’ve never tried to hide our craziness. One of the big ones for us is knowing where our kids are at all times. One of us made the joke that we’d just like to chip them in the same way that dogs and other pets can be chipped. We figured that there had to be some sort of GPS device that could enable parents to know where their kids are and if they were safe. After doing a bit of looking around we found something that MAY be a decent solution to give us some sort of confidence.

We found an interesting little device called the Amber Alert GPS 2G. It’s a GPS transmitter/receiver, less than 2” square, that has some amazing features like real-time tracking, temperature sensing, speed alert and SOS button. You buy the device ($379 before $50 promo) and pay for a monthly package ($10-50) which lets you receive updates on where your child is via computer or SMS text. If you have a web enabled phone the text will include a link to open a map so you can visually see instantly. Here are some of the features from the website:

I think that this device is really a great piece of technology and I’m sure it would help keep our minds at ease. Or would it?

I’ve already mentioned that we are both completely crazy about certain things when it comes to our kids so would this device really give us relief for this particular worry? This is only effective if the child has the device on them. What happens if they put it their backpack and then put it down somewhere? What if someone does take them then immediately discards the device? It really seems like this can only set our minds at ease to a certain extent and hopefully that would be enough. I think teaching our kids how to deal with people they don’t know is the first line of defense and this could be used as supplemental protection.

I would think that for the families that have had the horrific experience of losing a child would wholeheartedly condone a device like this while at the same time there are plenty of parents out there who would feel that it is simply overkill and we are all worried about too much. I believe that I fall in the middle while leaning more to the “better to be safe than sorry” crowd.

We’ll see how this all plays out, the devices don’t start shipping until May. Perhaps by then my wife and I will come up with a decision that comforts us both while at the same time isn’t going completely overboard.

Would you pay for some sort of tracking device for your kids or do you feel it’s overkill?

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Amber Alert GPS