I'm sure. And I'm not discounting the horror of it. In fact, I've thought about getting a dog that I can train for SAR (Docket is too crazy, and Sarama both too independent and too sensitive).
But that doesn't warrant making decisions about how to raise your children based on the extremely small chance that this will ever occur. Particularly decisions that may impact your child's development of their own identity, and a sense of independence and self-reliance. Not at the cost of their resentment. For that matter, not at the cost of feeding your own fear by catering to it.
If we treated all threats like this, then we'd buy a small casket on sale on the off chance that our child would die in a car crash (by comparison, VERY likely). Or we'd just never let them ride in a car. We'd banish the dog outside (or altogether) because we read a recent CDC report (which is nonsense, by the way . . . think of how often ANY of those events happen, by their own terms). We'd keep them on liquid diets and live in houses without stairs. They'd never be allowed near a body of water . . . etc.
We, unfortunately, live in a society obscessed with "safety" or, more correctly, in a society dedicated to avoiding tragedy. Particularly rare, every parent's worst nightmare tragedy. We are barraged by the media with the tragedies that occur in a nation of 300 million people, including the statistical flukes. We hear "if this saves one life . . . ." then any bizzare constraint on our personal freedom, and on the normal childhood of our children, is justified. Like children ourselves, we seem to believe that if we do the right things, follow the right rituals, then bad things won't happen. Wrong. Bad things happen. Tragedies occur. Mistakes are made. Of course we should learn from these events . . . but we should also keep in mind that bad things happen, and that many of the most dramatic bad things are incredibly rare. That's why it makes sense to buy a top notch car seat and learn to install it properly . . . and why it doesn't make sense to put a GPS on your kid.
I'll bet you that this will never save even one life, or if it does, it will save one or two out of 300 million plus over a course of years. But I suspect it won't save even one child (it might help locate a kid kidnapped by a relative, but that kid was probably in no real danger to begin with). Why? One because the kind of events that this is meant to prevent are so rare, and two because these will (hopefully) never be that common. So the one in a million bad thing will have to happen to the kid who is wearing one of these, and not the zillion other kids. However, even if it doesn't save one life, it will lead to hundreds, if not thousands, of family fights. Children who grow up thinking that Mom and Dad are always watching, and never learn to be independent . . . for that matter, who never learn the joy of being somewhere their parents don't necessarily know they are (and yes, as much as parents don't like that, I think that is an important thing). Teenagers who will never forgive their parents for treating them like criminals. Parents struck with guilt because they didn't hook their child up to a satelitte connection and the little dear got scared lost at the mall. And more fuel for a culture of fear.
But that doesn't warrant making decisions about how to raise your children based on the extremely small chance that this will ever occur. Particularly decisions that may impact your child's development of their own identity, and a sense of independence and self-reliance. Not at the cost of their resentment. For that matter, not at the cost of feeding your own fear by catering to it.
If we treated all threats like this, then we'd buy a small casket on sale on the off chance that our child would die in a car crash (by comparison, VERY likely). Or we'd just never let them ride in a car. We'd banish the dog outside (or altogether) because we read a recent CDC report (which is nonsense, by the way . . . think of how often ANY of those events happen, by their own terms). We'd keep them on liquid diets and live in houses without stairs. They'd never be allowed near a body of water . . . etc.
We, unfortunately, live in a society obscessed with "safety" or, more correctly, in a society dedicated to avoiding tragedy. Particularly rare, every parent's worst nightmare tragedy. We are barraged by the media with the tragedies that occur in a nation of 300 million people, including the statistical flukes. We hear "if this saves one life . . . ." then any bizzare constraint on our personal freedom, and on the normal childhood of our children, is justified. Like children ourselves, we seem to believe that if we do the right things, follow the right rituals, then bad things won't happen. Wrong. Bad things happen. Tragedies occur. Mistakes are made. Of course we should learn from these events . . . but we should also keep in mind that bad things happen, and that many of the most dramatic bad things are incredibly rare. That's why it makes sense to buy a top notch car seat and learn to install it properly . . . and why it doesn't make sense to put a GPS on your kid.
I'll bet you that this will never save even one life, or if it does, it will save one or two out of 300 million plus over a course of years. But I suspect it won't save even one child (it might help locate a kid kidnapped by a relative, but that kid was probably in no real danger to begin with). Why? One because the kind of events that this is meant to prevent are so rare, and two because these will (hopefully) never be that common. So the one in a million bad thing will have to happen to the kid who is wearing one of these, and not the zillion other kids. However, even if it doesn't save one life, it will lead to hundreds, if not thousands, of family fights. Children who grow up thinking that Mom and Dad are always watching, and never learn to be independent . . . for that matter, who never learn the joy of being somewhere their parents don't necessarily know they are (and yes, as much as parents don't like that, I think that is an important thing). Teenagers who will never forgive their parents for treating them like criminals. Parents struck with guilt because they didn't hook their child up to a satelitte connection and the little dear got scared lost at the mall. And more fuel for a culture of fear.
lol 
