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GPS trackers for kids should be banned altogether. At best they're for helicopter parents, at worst they are the favourite tool of the abuser. A healthy upbring

GPS trackers for kids should be banned altogether. At best they're for helicopter parents, at worst they are the favourite tool of the abuser. A healthy upbringing requires trust.

bdamm 9y ago
Not everyone has the privilege of a healthy upbringing but all parents want some tools to know where their children are. (Corollary: Not all parents can provide a healthy upbringing but still want to know where their children are.)
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- Xylakant 9y ago
  I actually want to trust my kid not to commit royally stupid acts. I have no desire to know it’s exact location. For most cases and most accidents I’ll be way to far away to affect the outcome. Think: ok, kid’s in the park, safe. Well, climbed a tree, fell down. How’s that GPS tracker helping to avoid that? So I’d prefer the kid to know I’m not tracking every step and won’t be round the corner to catch every fall. My parents trusted me not to fuck up royally and I’m still alive, albeit with some permanent scars. I’ll pass that on.
  - ggg9990 9y ago
    You don't yet have a kid and your perspective on all of these things really changes when you do.
    - Xylakant 9y ago
      I actually do have kids. I’ve been thinking long and hard about that. A lot of things try to sell perfect safety from the first day, smart mattresses that measure breathing, diapers or socks that measure pulse and oxygen saturation, gps trackers, name it. I admit that we all want our kids to be perfectly safe and it’s very hard to acknowledge that perfectly safe is only possible by packing the kid in a foam container and placing the container in a padded safe. As much as I sometimes would like to do that, that’s obviously not going to fly. So yes, it’s hard and it’s worrying from day one, but part of being a parent it coming to terms with this. Things will mostly be alright. I survived stupid things - and lord, I’ve done things that could have killed me - chances are my kids will survive as well. Statistics are on my side: Most kids survive to adulthood without permanent damage.
pm90 9y ago
> At best they're for helicopter parents This makes 0 sense to me. I've never had kids of my own, but women I've dated have. For most of them, just knowing that their kids are somewhere safe is certainly important. I'm talking for small children though. With older kids (e.g. teenagers) perhaps a more consensual agreement would suit better.
lotu 9y ago
I always figured it was kinda the opposite, a GPS tracker allows a parent to feel more secure about letting the child out of their sight thus decreasing the "helicoptering". I'd be much more comfortable letting a child walk a couple 2 miles to see their friend if I know I'd be able to quickly recognize if something went wrong (i.e. the child stops moving, or starts going in the wrong direction very quickly.). Now there is a point as the kid ages where it could get creepy but I think that really depends on you a person, if you are a generally creepy person on not. For example my family of all adults share an iTunes family account to share movies and stuff, this also lets us look at each others location via find my iphone. However this isn't a problem because not of us are creepy assholes.
- sliverstorm 9y ago
  Right, you could certainly be insane about it, but if for example you could program perhaps a generous geofence alert and speed alert, you wouldn't even have to look at their location to have some extra reassurance while letting them off to do their own thing. Maybe you shouldn't be worrying in the first place- but for those that do, it could be the proverbial knee guards and helmet that allow their kid to roam.
- TazeTSchnitzel 9y ago
  > a GPS tracker allows a parent to feel more secure about letting the child out of their sight thus decreasing the "helicoptering" A GPS tracker is a long-range spying device; it feels oxymoronic to claim you're letting them out of your sight if they're wearing one. If you can't trust your kids to be out of your sight without tracking them, you don't trust them.
  - jawns 9y ago
    > If you can't trust your kids to be out of your sight without tracking them, you don't trust them. It's not always about trusting the kid. It's about trusting the rest of the world.
    - Odenwaelder 9y ago
jethro_tell 9y ago
For a 12 year old maybe. My 5 year old wears one because she want's to walk home from school (requires a 5 mi bus ride in a major metropolitan area). She had crossing the street figured out at about 3 or 4 and seems to be abnormally aware of her surroundings. (Her brother is not, he's just in his own world. Basically a danger to himself and everyone withing 100m of him) It let's me keep track of her progress and gives here a simple phone that calls mom, dad, and her 4 grand parents. She set the alarm and gets out of bed when it goes off, dresses herself, basically does all the things you'd do with a phone which has very similar attack vectors. This is the kind of thing you'd expect in a world where kids can't call you at work from the home phone. There's no device that makes or breaks trust, that is a people problem not a technical problem. It sucks that there's not much on the market in the way of good devices. We've removed the camera and do voice only calls when needed. It's a calculated risk and it's probably never to early to start teaching kids how to be aware of security risks in the tech around them. I mean, or we could just wait until they are about 16 and we have all the bugs worked out. Just let them go crazy then.
choward 9y ago
Knee-jerk reaction laws should be banned altogether. Stop making things illegal for no good reason.
bluthru 9y ago
GPS trackers would put more minds at ease and allow for more free movement of children.

GPS trackers for kids should be banned altogether. At best they're for helicopter parents, at worst they are the favourite tool of the abuser. A healthy upbringing requires trust.

bdamm 9y ago

Not everyone has the privilege of a healthy upbringing but all parents want some tools to know where their children are. (Corollary: Not all parents can provide a healthy upbringing but still want to know where their children are.)

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Xylakant 9y ago
I actually want to trust my kid not to commit royally stupid acts. I have no desire to know it’s exact location. For most cases and most accidents I’ll be way to far away to affect the outcome. Think: ok, kid’s in the park, safe. Well, climbed a tree, fell down. How’s that GPS tracker helping to avoid that? So I’d prefer the kid to know I’m not tracking every step and won’t be round the corner to catch every fall. My parents trusted me not to fuck up royally and I’m still alive, albeit with some permanent scars. I’ll pass that on.
- ggg9990 9y ago
  You don't yet have a kid and your perspective on all of these things really changes when you do.
  - Xylakant 9y ago
    I actually do have kids. I’ve been thinking long and hard about that. A lot of things try to sell perfect safety from the first day, smart mattresses that measure breathing, diapers or socks that measure pulse and oxygen saturation, gps trackers, name it. I admit that we all want our kids to be perfectly safe and it’s very hard to acknowledge that perfectly safe is only possible by packing the kid in a foam container and placing the container in a padded safe. As much as I sometimes would like to do that, that’s obviously not going to fly. So yes, it’s hard and it’s worrying from day one, but part of being a parent it coming to terms with this. Things will mostly be alright. I survived stupid things - and lord, I’ve done things that could have killed me - chances are my kids will survive as well. Statistics are on my side: Most kids survive to adulthood without permanent damage.

pm90 9y ago

> At best they're for helicopter parents This makes 0 sense to me. I've never had kids of my own, but women I've dated have. For most of them, just knowing that their kids are somewhere safe is certainly important. I'm talking for small children though. With older kids (e.g. teenagers) perhaps a more consensual agreement would suit better.

lotu 9y ago

I always figured it was kinda the opposite, a GPS tracker allows a parent to feel more secure about letting the child out of their sight thus decreasing the "helicoptering". I'd be much more comfortable letting a child walk a couple 2 miles to see their friend if I know I'd be able to quickly recognize if something went wrong (i.e. the child stops moving, or starts going in the wrong direction very quickly.). Now there is a point as the kid ages where it could get creepy but I think that really depends on you a person, if you are a generally creepy person on not. For example my family of all adults share an iTunes family account to share movies and stuff, this also lets us look at each others location via find my iphone. However this isn't a problem because not of us are creepy assholes.

sliverstorm 9y ago
Right, you could certainly be insane about it, but if for example you could program perhaps a generous geofence alert and speed alert, you wouldn't even have to look at their location to have some extra reassurance while letting them off to do their own thing. Maybe you shouldn't be worrying in the first place- but for those that do, it could be the proverbial knee guards and helmet that allow their kid to roam.
TazeTSchnitzel 9y ago
> a GPS tracker allows a parent to feel more secure about letting the child out of their sight thus decreasing the "helicoptering" A GPS tracker is a long-range spying device; it feels oxymoronic to claim you're letting them out of your sight if they're wearing one. If you can't trust your kids to be out of your sight without tracking them, you don't trust them.
- jawns 9y ago
  > If you can't trust your kids to be out of your sight without tracking them, you don't trust them. It's not always about trusting the kid. It's about trusting the rest of the world.
  - Odenwaelder 9y ago

jethro_tell 9y ago

For a 12 year old maybe. My 5 year old wears one because she want's to walk home from school (requires a 5 mi bus ride in a major metropolitan area). She had crossing the street figured out at about 3 or 4 and seems to be abnormally aware of her surroundings. (Her brother is not, he's just in his own world. Basically a danger to himself and everyone withing 100m of him) It let's me keep track of her progress and gives here a simple phone that calls mom, dad, and her 4 grand parents. She set the alarm and gets out of bed when it goes off, dresses herself, basically does all the things you'd do with a phone which has very similar attack vectors. This is the kind of thing you'd expect in a world where kids can't call you at work from the home phone. There's no device that makes or breaks trust, that is a people problem not a technical problem. It sucks that there's not much on the market in the way of good devices. We've removed the camera and do voice only calls when needed. It's a calculated risk and it's probably never to early to start teaching kids how to be aware of security risks in the tech around them. I mean, or we could just wait until they are about 16 and we have all the bugs worked out. Just let them go crazy then.

choward 9y ago

Knee-jerk reaction laws should be banned altogether. Stop making things illegal for no good reason.

bluthru 9y ago

GPS trackers would put more minds at ease and allow for more free movement of children.