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American Morning
Some Parents Turning to Technology to Protect Children
Aired August 16, 2002 - 08:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are talking kids. It's a summer where child abductions have been in the news every day. Some parents turning to technology to protect their children. We're going to show you how now some of the gadgets work and the promise to help you keep tabs on the little ones.
And joining us to lend a hand is Heather Kahn of "Parenting" magazine.
Heather, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
HEATHER KAHN, "PARENTING" MAGAZINE: Good morning. My pleasure.
KAGAN: It's come to this. We're putting chips on our kids.
KAHN: It's a shame you said to me, you see those leashes, and sometimes you think...
KAGAN: That used to be appalling, I know.
KAHN: A modern day leach. This will let us track our children 24 hours a day. We'll know exactly where they are. If anyone has seen "Spy Kids" the movie, that has now come to be a reality. In fact, I have some gadgets with me right now.
KAGAN: We have a list. This first is a Werifi (ph) wireless watch.
KAHN: This is the Werifi wireless. Now the company that makes this says it's the only one piece self-contained unit on the market right now. It is available. You basically snap this watch on your child's wrist, and so you have a key so that the child cannot remove it during the day. Neither can a child predator.
On their wrist, this would give them the ability to get pages from mom or dad, to press a panic button if they need 911, and most importantly what this little watch does is it sends a signal to satellites way above the Earth, global positions systems, GPS. The satellite sends the message down to master control and mom and dad can log on the Internet find out where their child is, or they can call a 1-800 toll-free number. The Werefi (ph) folks will tell you where your child is within a few feet within 60 seconds.
KAGAN: It looks clunky to me. You said you tried it on one of your kids.
KAHN: I have three daughters. I have a 5-year-old and 6-year- old. Didn't try it on the 1-year-old. They don't recommend this for children until they are at least 4, because it is a little bit hard to maneuver if they're younger. She thought it was cool. She was pretending she was a spy kid. The next gadget here...
KAGAN: How much?
KAHN: This is...
KAGAN: There's two prices involved. There's an initial cost, and then you have to subscribe to a service like it's a cell phone.
KAHN: That's right, Daryn. It's $400 is what they're talking about charging, that one-time fee, and then a monthly fee, and these will range between as low as $10 for some of them, up to $50, depending on the plan you subscribe to. There are all different levels. So some people would argue for peace of mind, you know.
KAGAN: It's worth the money, if you have it.
Let's look at these other items we have here.
KAHN: The next item here is called the Digital Angel. This actually was initially made for Alzheimer's patients. The part with the GPS tracking system that would tell you where your child is this beeper-like device here, and they would put it on their waist or wear it on backpack, and the other piece here, and you can choose to use or not for your child, but if you have a parent you want to track who has Alzheimer's, this monitors sudden falls. If they fall down, it monitors their body temperature and their pulse. This works in a similar way to this one, with a GPS system, and you log on to the Internet, punch in a special code.
KAGAN: A few hundred dollars, plus the...
KAHN: Four-hundred dollars, and a fee similar to what I was telling you about.
KAGAN: And what's little Minnie doing here?
KAHN: Little Minnie is not what she appears. Little Minnie actually is a kid tracker by GPS tracks. And GPS tracks has sort of just designed this. It's not available yet, but should be soon. Inside her belly and inside her head, she's all wired up with a GPS tracking system.
Now this one's different. There's no third party. This is under $300 because there's no third party. This is no master control, as I've described it. Basically Minnie will send a signal back to mom or dad's pager, any two wireless, a black barrier (ph), something like that, a cell phone, alerting you that your child has left a certain area, has left a boundary, or is in trouble, and that way for $10 a month you have that piece of mind, and it probably could be wired into a hat, or jersey or backpack.
KAGAN: Two things come to mind with this. One, scaring your kids. And it's that fine line you walk. But also giving parents a false sense of security. My kid's wired up; I don't have to pay attention, because I can follow him or her on the GPS.
KAHN: Absolutely. I mean, we can't stress enough that these are not a substitution, and couple of the products, the first two, as a matter of fact, the way they work, if your cell phone doesn't work -- we know in a concrete building, or underground or in a leafy suburb, cell phones often don't work. These are not no-fail systems. If your cell phone system doesn't work, your GPS tracker on your child doesn't work. They are no substitution for vigilance.
I joked with a friend of mine that these are sort of a natural alternative to anti-anxiety medication for moms. If you need that peace of mind and if your child maybe walks a treacherous route home from school. If you're going skiing for the day, if you're going to a theme park and you can afford to use one of these things. In fact, some of these companies are in negotiation with some theme parks where you can rent Minnie Mouse for the day, and...
KAGAN: Just like you rent a stroller at a park.
KAHN: That's right, and that's a great idea.
KAGAN: All right, just one more option, because we know parents are talking about that out there. Heather Kahn, from "Parenting" magazine, thank you so much.
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