With all that has been happening on the news in the last days here in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and in other Queensland areas, the question has been asked on the radio today, also I then I saw it on TV tonight too in regards to kid trackers, do we need a GPS kid tracker for our kids?
We went for a family walk tonight and during these walks with the kids we talk a fair bit in between getting interrupted by a few of them constantly and so the topic come up, to tack or not to track the kids and later on after getting back we both settled on the verdict that tracking is not really necessary but education, awareness and self responsibility are probably more important in the long term for where our kids ages are at for the moment.
We aren’t saying that as technology advances and the tracking watches get a bit better at what they do as everything does, the kids fly the coop a bit and go for longer bike rides etc, etc that we won’t consider the trackers again in the future, but for the moment at their young age I feel the responsibility lies with us a lot more than them to look out for them as best we can.
So I thought I’d look into it anyway and see what was out there in the market place here in Australia in regards to kid trackers.
There are quite a few different types out there at the moment, different shapes, sizes and colours too.
Some are GPS solutions and a bit more full on, price wise and feature wise and some are just distance alerts so when the kids are outside a certain distance away from you the transmitter you have on you lets you know they are out of the vicinity.
Here is a list of the different types of kid trackers I have found, there are quite a few different types and sizes and also so many different ways to keep tabs on your kids.
Some of these may double up in what they can do, but the names of the products maybe a little different, I have just included all of them in case you end up searching so you know what to type into your search engine.
- Child locator
- Proximity child alert
- Kid tracker chip
- Kid tracker app
- Child tracking key ring
- Kid tracker watch
- Kid tracker bracelet
- Children tracker wristband
- Child tracker bag tag
- Watch mobile phone and GPS tracker
- GPS kid tracker with two way calling
From what I can tell with doing a fair bit of reading and mouse scrolling is the kid tracking GPS type of trackers have almost the same function with just different bells and whistles, for example if your child goes outside of a certain radius of where they are meant to be the unit can email you or send you an alert on your phone, PC or Mac.
These above all have the simple function of knowing where your loved ones are at anytime if they are wearing the watch or have the GPS tracker tag attached to their bag.
I wonder and this has to be asked, also I won’t mention any of the phone companies, what happens if you are on a crap phone plan with a crap phone company and you have no coverage in some or a whole area?
Does this render the GPS kid tracker unit obsolete?
I’d be asking these types of questions before we purchase or sign up for the rental agreements that a lot of the companies also offer for their more expensive GPS kid tracking models.
Just to be safe that you can use your device easily and also don’t have to keep on checking that you have a signal and battery life.
The proximity child alerts and child locators work on noise, in regards to the proximity locators, if your kid stray’s too far away, it lets out a loud noise and for the child locators you push the button on your transmitter and the kids tag will let out the noise for you to find the little monster.
In the end you have to keep one eye on your little ones no matter where they are, these kid trackers may or may not be good and suited to you or your lifestyle but there are worse alternatives, now if I can only latch one onto the little man when we are at Bunnings next, I might be able to track him down in the tool section a bit more easier as he races off with his mini shopping cart.
My last point is and everyone should remember this in the end, these are devices that track your child, not baby sit your child, we are still responsible for what they do in our care.
These kid tracking devices aren’t Nanny’s that you just set and forget, your kids and our kids can still get up to mischief, have accidents and still be at risk close to us, they don’t have to be far away to do this, so keep one eye on them and the other on your coffee still and keep them safe.
* Update ::
I forgot an important thing here too and I thought I must add it now as it is already late and a few more minutes won’t matter.
We also asked our eldest daughter about what she thought of tracking her whereabouts too, as she is the oldest one she probably and does stray away now and then and catches up with us on the bike rides and sometimes walking too.
She thought it was a great idea for her to be tracked, we thought this very thoughtful of her to consider us and also her own safety too, then the question, “So when do I get my new watch and phone?”
And that is where I’ll leave it….