Why don't children get 'chipped'

[lindseymw]

I think on paper it's a great idea....in reality it'll never happen though!

 

[JASMAK]

abduction is rare, unless it happens to your child...then it's 100%. I am not 'for' chipping, but I bet the people who have had their children stolen are. I am not against it either. I lost my son for 20 minutes in a busy mall once, and for the longest time I was for chipping babies after that. He was only 2 and it was awful. But that is my emotions speaking then. People tatoo their pets though, and I think is parts of South America or Central America they chip kids???

 

[chysantheMUM]

After reading this, I briefly discussed it with OH who surprised me by saying that if you could chip the kids till 16 - 18 he would and that in fact he thinks everyone should be chipped I however disagree and think it is a really bad idea not just for the human rights issue but that the more we discussed it the more I realised how horrific it would be. Not only would it still be possible for someone to abduct your child but it would possibly lead to them having torture inflicted on them as the abductor attempts to gouge the chip out. Scary thought!

 

[pandacub]

If someone is evil enough to kidnap your child, why would they not be evil enough to forcibly remove a chip?

I dont like the idea, i dont think it'd work.

 

[Mooshie]

I think in theory it's a good idea, but like patch said, who would you trust with the data?

Some government suit would end up leaving it on a train or park bench!

 

[whit.]

No way in hell I would put a tracking chip in Sophia's body. No. Way.

I'll buy her a leash backpack and keep an eye on her.

 

[Baby France]

I would consider it. Not for the rest of their lives but definately until 'adult' age.

Sometimes I think that it is very easy to say, if you watch your child they won't get abucted. However, I know that my dad lost my son in December when he turned his head in a busy market place for less than a minute. He was found about 20 minutes later (I like to think that if it was me it would never have happened.) But these things DO happen.

Hmmm....as someone else mentioned if it became something that we would have to do, if someone was evil enough to steal a child, I seriously doubt taking a chip out of their body would become an issue for them tbh!

 

[patch2006uk]

I'm surprised how many are in favour of this tbh. I think it's absolutely about 10 steps too far. Under skin chipping and location tracking? Yikes!

At least with a GPS device, you can put it down or switch it off.

Also, who would you trust with the info? The government? They don't exactly have a brilliant track record of handling data securely. Local authorities? Private companies? Tesco personal tracking?! If you kept it at home, what if you got robbed?

There is no safety in surveillance. CCTV doesn't reduce crime numbers.

I agree that it doesn't reduce crime rates and it's certainly not a deterrent but I'm happy for CCTV to happen, in cases of abduction it gives a good picture of the last known whereabouts of people. Maybe it doesn't always help solve a case bit it must be of some value to the police.

Oh, absolutely. I'm not against CCTV - although I do think it's considered by too many as a method of protection, when actually it's only an observer of crime. Is it much of a consolation to be able to say 'well, we watched you get stabbed, but the footage isn't clear enough to make out who did it. I know which shop you were outside at the time, though'

Realistically, the world is pretty safe. Of course, horrendous crimes DO happen, but the reason they make the headlines is because they're rare.

I think, also, that giving a false sense of security is more dangerous than leaving some of the fear in life. If people are worried, they behave more sensibly, they're more likely to pay attention. If they get complacent, as in 'oh, my daughter is chipped, so I can't lose her' then the temptation to take risks is greater. A bit of fear isn't necessarily a bad thing. Wasn't there research that said we make better decisions under a bit of stress?

 

[hellywelly]

Ladies - I am really pleased I raised this thread - it is very interesting to read everyones point of view on chipping their children - it is something that I have always thought about but never really mentioned it until last night. For me, I personally remain on the fence regarding chipping. Lets put it like this - I wouldn't be first in the queue to get Harry chipped - but if he was abducted I would be absolutely killing myself that I never did it. If I did do it and it was available then I would want it removed until he was an independent responsible human being xxxx

 

[hellywelly]

And also just to point out about 'big brother' - we don't need to be chipped for big brother to know where we are what we do etc. xxx

 

[Sarahkka]

I remember reading about these great new locks that you can install in your house and vehicle that are activated by a chip inserted somewhere in your finger or hand. I have a terrible problem with misplacing my keys, so this is the kind of technology that seems highly practical to me! I imagine myself free from the frantic morning search for my keys, simply pointing my finger at my door as I leave the house, and in a very Harry Potter kind of way, hearing the lock engage.....

However! When it comes to a tracking device in kids, I think I agree that it might replace the far more important and practical skills of
a) sufficient vigilance on the part of the parent
b) the important coping skills of the child to be able to assess that he/she is lost and how to handle the situation - in this case, I am talking about toddlers who are verbal enough to understand about how to find an adult they can trust (in our household, we are currently teaching my three-year old to find someone in a uniform or another parent with kids and to be able to tell them his full name, our full names, and that he is lost and needs help). I think this is an important coping skill and I would much rather that my child develop the problem-solving abilities and self-suffiency of dealing with this situation appropriately than be passively and helplessly waiting for electronic rescue. I think the skills and mindset behind the non-electronic approach lay an important groundwork for dealing with emergencies and unexpected situations, in general.
We are losing some basic skills as technology does the work for us. Navigation and map-reading, for example - if your GPS unit stops working, do you know how to figure out where you are and where you need to go using a basic paper map?
Rapidly changing times call for evolving skills, but we should be careful that we aren't too quick to throw away the old skills and let a computer do the work for our brains.

 

[Yammas]

I thought it would be a good idea if it could only be activated in the event of a chld going missing, instead of constant tracking untill all the talk of ripping out chips made me reconsider

 

[Lightworker]

I thought I'd seen an advert where children had watches which had a chip in them, which only the parents could track. I thought that was handy.

In terms of chips, no way. It opens the doors to other sorts of surveillance, and it will change things in a negative way. I do agree that it might also make parents slack in terms of watching their children.

Its hard.

 

[punk_pig]

I thought it would be a good idea if it could only be activated in the event of a chld going missing

But what private company (and lets face it, it would be run by private companies) would miss out on the opportunity of saying "but for just £5 a month extra you can have our delux system which will alert you anytime your child strays out of the area you have designated as safe - it often takes hours for someone to realise a child is missing rather than in school etc. but with this system as soon as the paedophile takes your child off the school route you'll get a text!!!"

As a parent it'd then be very difficult to say "Nah I'll just keep the standard one where the Police will notify you once my child has been missing long enough to consider them in danger..."
Then once you have the delux system your child will never have the freedom to do anything you haven't already planned with them.

 

[Melibu90]

I think its just too far really. I will keep LO close to me at all times when hes a confident walker he will have my hand or a backpack for a really busy place. I would hate to be chipped and if my parents said you can get it out i would be too scared to have it cut out so would have it forever. :shurg:
If you are aware of where you are and what could happen even very rare circumstances all you can do is keep an eye on LO

 

[smelly07]

I wouldnt have my children chipped...........i dont actually see the need at all, its against human rights and their privacy.
And if anyone was evil and determined enough to abduct a child they probably wouldnt think twice about removing the chip themselves. x

 

[hot tea]

I do not own my children. It is not my RIGHT to insert a tracking device into their body. If that isn't taking away free will, I don't know what is.

 

[Natasha2605]

I just couldn't even contemplate doing it. Abductions are horrific, but rare. 9 times out of ten a little extra vigilance on the part of parents could have helped avoid it / put a potential abducter off. I'd rather watch my kids a million times more carefully and teach them about stranger danger etc than microchip them, they're not dogs .

 

[smokey]

Years ago I worked for a company that dealt with barcodes and one of there products was a tracking device so they could keep track of pallets and where they where in a warehouse, because the pallets got moved around alot they spent so much time looking for them (these warehouses where the size of a couple of football pitches)

They eventualy came up with the idea of using the same type of devices for children, the idea was initialy to put the tracking chip in wristbands of children visiting theme parks so that if a child did become seperated from the parent they could be tracked anywhere in the park or surrounding area, all you would need to do was go to the info hut or get a security member to radio over to track the movement of the child.
The wristband would be issued on entrance and could only be removed with a special magnet at the info hut.
They where then going to introduce the idea to large shopping centres so for a small fee you could hire one of these wristbands just in case you got seperated from your child.

The whole idea got folded though because every place they approached with the idea said it would cost too much to introduceand wasnt cost effective as a security measure (try telling that to the parents of Jamie Bulger)

I do actualy have a tracking device for LO its a little chip that can be worn in a badge or a button and you can track it with an app, its actualy not very legal as it was from work and isnt a generaly available thing although I do think there is a version like it out now.
Never actualy used it yet but as far as im concerned its nothing about treating them like a dog its about safety anddoesnt take the place of looking after my children but is rather just a safety back up just in case something happens, id rather have it there then regret not having it if something happened.
I see it the same as toddler reigns, doesnt mean I want to keep him on a leash like a animal it just means I have it there as a back up.
And as far as im concerned a small child doesnt have privacy to invade if its a case of a parent keeping track of them for safety

OH company uses them on employers (he works for a traffic warden company) so they can see if the wardens are hiding in the pub all day rather then out petroling, obviously its not inserted into them its in there little hand helds

 

[smokey]

Sorry double post