Lojack my car – why not my kid?
November 12th, 2009
Lo-jack for the car.
Techniques for disabling a boat.
Micro-chip for the dog.
There is even software floating around that will cause havoc for a cell phone thief all the while sending you encrypted messages letting you and the police know where your phone is located.
With all of these theft prevention techniques I’d like to ask one question. Why is it that a parent cannot have their child micro-chipped? I do understand privacy issues related to this as the child ages, but from birth until the eighteen, what would be the big deal?
Now, I ask this from the viewpoint of a parent who realizes that while all of these other items can be replaced, ok, I’ll give you the family pet is not “replaceable” but to make my point I add the pet information into this article as I think it goes to show the value we place on “material items” as all of the above can be bought and covered by insurance. A child cannot be replaced and I cannot help but wonder how different our world would be if we, as parents, were able to microchip our children at birth and they have the option at age 18 to have it removed if they so choose. How would this effect people like Jaycee Dugards parents who spent 18 years hoping and praying for the safe return of their child? Or Elizabeth Smart’s parents who was missing for nine months and went thru horrors that only others who have been unfortunate enough to have been victims of, would ever understand. What about the balloon boys parents? In his case, not only would that have brought the child ‘home’ more quickly, but it would have saved hours of manpower in relation to the search and rescue adventure that took place all while his parents knew he was safely hidden away. If Falcon Heene had been micro-chipped, the police could have activated the locator device and would have found him in less than an hour putting an end to the entire scheme.
Would a micro-chip system for children deter would be kidnappers as it does would-be car thieves? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but there are days when I wish I did. Specifically on a day when my daughter starts out playing outside and then runs off with friends to go play inside someones home without letting me know. Yes, I realize upon walking outside that the entire group of children is gone so the logical answer to “where did they go?” is that they are safely within one of the kids homes, but there is always that moment, and many other parents will know what I am saying, when you turn around and don’t see your child anywhere. The panic that sets in immediately would only be understood by another parent and it cannot be prevented but will subside a few moments later when you realize it’s no big deal as your child is safe and sound.
What about those parents whose kids aren’t safe and sound?
Is a kid-chip location device an option?
Would you use it if it was available?
photograph of Etan Patz taken by his father, Stanley K. Patz, on September 16th, 1978
How do you feel about the privacy issues related to such a device v. the life altering experience of having your child go missing?
I wonder what Julie and Stanley Patz would have to say about a kid-chip. Their son, Etan (6) was the first missing child case I remember hearing about when I was a child myself. Etan simply vanished on his way to a NYC school on May 25th 1979. An all out search included police, volunteers and even placed Etan’s face on a milk carton, the first time a missing child would be featured and unfortunately not the last. This all lead to a possible suspect but no hard evidence and Etan’s parents have no confirmation of what happened to their son after he disappeared on that fall day in 1979.
Hundreds of thousands of children disappear every year…many, like Etan Patz, are never found. So what is more important…privacy or child safety?
Today, thirty years later neither Etan or his remains have ever been found. On October 9, 2009 Etan would have celebrated his 36th birthday.
EmbracingMyJourney L.L.C. was created by Caryn FitzGerald in 2008.
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Nice post. I like your blog.
I am 100% for this device. Losing our freedom to such a device is nothing compared to losing a child. In regards to “losing” freedom, I agree with the thought of regulating such a device, letting the child keep it until the age of 18. If we can spare a child from the harm of a possible kidnap and torture of such event, I don’t understand why anyone would oppose this. If I can spare my children from being abducted, abused and killed, I would do it at any cost. You cannot replace a child and only another parent would understand that.
It is such things as these that come back to haunt us alter as we react to these event and try to find solutions to prevent them from happening again.
The question must be asked how far will we go to prevent these things from happening again.
Even though these are tragic events we need to be very careful because of the freedoms that re given up for saftey.
WWII gives us part of the answer. When it was thought that peace at any cost was the position taken as in regards to Hitler. It became known later to enter a peace agreement with evil at any caost is the way that peace is lost and freedom goes with the loss of peace. If we are going to use devices to protect we need to know how and when to remove these things for the right of freedom. When you give others a way to monitor you your rights of freedom are easily lost. When the government gets something it is hard to reverse. We need to limit the amount of access the authorities have on our daily lives. They will in a process of tiem take everything we value as it pertains to freedom from us. It is just the nature of government.
Most autrocities have been comitted by those who are suppose to be protecting us from evil in its many forms.
There are some devices out there you can strap around your childrens ankles or wrist. My neighbor down the street whose child (5 or 6) has a tendency to take off, has a device on her childs ankle. Once they move a certain distance away it triggers and alarm and notifies the parents and is tied into a locator to tell you where your child currently is. She seems to be real happy with it. I believe the cost is minimal for its stress relief factor.
Brian
Such solutions as putting a microchip on a child may not be that far off. Be patient.