Big Mother is Watching!
-
- January
- 17
A friend was recently telling me about her daycare center in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Yes, she likes the teachers, the healthy snacks, and of course, all of the toys, but what she loves most is one particular feature: The center has a web cam that lets parents spy on their kidsâ€â€and their caretakersâ€â€during the day. Much as I would love a few doses of Owen between meetings, my center doesn’t offer such techy accoutrements and so in old-fashion style, I just ask Owen’s teachers for a recap of their time together at the end of the day. Our conversation got me thinking, though. Now with so much technology at our disposal, it’s so easy to spy on our kids and see exactly the kind of care they get when we’re not around. New York Magazine ran a story last year on gadgets for paranoid parentsâ€â€outsmart your nanny and send her to the playground with a GPS chip hidden in her diaper bag! Another friend introduced me to a website: isawyournanny.blogspot.com. Here, people blog about what they see your nanny do during the day (“She turned her back on your child at the bus stop for a second but then was very caring when she turned back around.”) It’s enough to make a working motherâ€â€or any mom who needs the occasional babysitterâ€â€throw up. My question, I guess, is does all this technology help us or hurt us when it comes to our kids? And what does it say about our parenting? If I ever felt that Owen’s nanny was such a flight-risk that she required a GPS chip, for example, you can be sure I’d find another nanny. Is technology keeping us in touch? Making us more trusting? Or, is it just bringing out the paranoia is all of us?
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 12:41 pm by Mary Lynn Mitcham.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
The latter. Ignorance is bliss. most times.
GPS and Nanny cams go against the idea of entrusting anyone to take care of your kids. Bottomline: If you don’t trust your nanny or caretaker, hire someone else. If you are that paranoid, find a way to stay home, because no one will ever pay as much attention to your child as you do—ever.
Ditto, Marcy.
Although as far as the cameras in the daycare goes – I personally would look at them as more of a way to feel connected to your child than that I was “spying” on anyone. If I was at work and I knew I could just log onto a website and see what Jr. was up to, it might help me missing him too much when I’m away from him.
I don’t agree. My daughter, Marietta, is in daycare and has a set of wonderful caregivers. She responds to them, holds her arms out to them, and smiles when they cuddle her. Even so, most days before I leave I find myself peeking back into the classroom to watch for – what, I don’t know. But something in me wants to watch her room when it’s not knowingly being observed. I’m not looking for signs of physical abuse (I swear), but I do pay attention to things like is enough attention being paid to each child? Is there favoritism? Or, is there a bully in the room that I need to know about, or a particular toy that Marietta does not share well with others? My center doesn’t have an internet-ready camera, but if it did, I wouldn’t view it as “spyware”. I would consider it a tool to help me be a better parent by monitoring the kind of environment my child spends eight-plus hours in a day.
Sorry :(
Cool…
Cool.
Sorry :(
Cool.
Nice
Interesting…
Sorry :(
Nice…
Cool!
Cool.
Nice…
Nice
Nice
Interesting…
Want to start your private office arms race right now?
I just got my own USB rocket launcher :-) Awsome thing.
Plug into your computer and you got a remote controlled office missile launcher with 360 degrees horizontal and 45 degree vertival rotation with a range of more than 6 meters – which gives you a coverage of 113 square meters round your workplace.
You can get the gadget here: http://tinyurl.com/2qul3c
Check out the video they have on the page.
Cheers
Marko Fando
las vegas chair caps san xavier mission lc2tv name your own price fertility claculator sushi lahaina hi who pays for background check on gun buying at walmart olive garden menu lincoln mercury dealers
breast implants louisville kentucy girlsandgirls very young wet pussy pix wiked video passover recipes that can be frozen face fucking the ring movie sexce woman
portland sea dogs peggy kendall vumc nycx gov hpd moeshert dicks sporting goods sexsearch cars warranty mega millions neue kupplung ford focus diagnosis of learning disorder
conversion wheelchair van ninjutsus and genjutsus child advocacy center of lane county mazda miata 1995 convertible top colt fire arms pistols plick jeep isa how to be more adult proimge loews vantana canyon
gay teen twinks 1974 plymouth duster manual free hardcore porn videos xxx on line free tips on sucking dick plot for movie office space
avlastkey how to start a strawberry patch in alabama
Thanks for writing this great blog I really enjoyed.