Safe Safety

Today I got a call from yet another company trying to address the lost child market. Like many others, this company intends well but didn’t think through some pretty significant issues which as a parent, make me very concerned.

So, when you are seeing safety products, particularly in the lost child area, please consider the following issues:

1. Is the product child-friendly?

No safety product is going to help if the child doesn’t use it. No matter how good the product is technically, if the child finds it ugly, uncomfortable, uncool, or just boring, it won’t work. The key to keeping kids safe is having their buy-in which includes giving them the knowledge and the right products to use.

2. Can the child use it?

Remember, that even a smart, confident child will panic when they are lost. Something like a bracelet or hidden label may be hard to operate and a child will most likely forget about it during a crisis. Plus, a stranger may not know to look for the information and you definitely don’t want them undressing your child to find it. Make sure the ID is really easy to spot and can be retrieved from the child without the child’s help or without the need to touch the child.

3. What happens if the product is lost?

Kids lose things all the time - me too! Child ID and location products are no different and they can fall off or break off. If that happens, it won’t help the child, but in fact, it can hurt the child. For example, if the product is a bracelet with home phone information, whoever finds it can reverse look up your address and track down the child - not good.

So consider what could happen if the product was lost and found by a bad stranger. Be sure you are comfortable with that implication. As I often tell people who are interested in Wander Wear, if some weirdo finds my son’s Parent Locator Tag and calls my cell phone repeatably, the worst case is that I can ignore/block the calls or change my cell phone number relatively easily. However, if I use my home phone or other information that helps someone find my house, that is not an acceptable risk.

4. No batteries required

Batteries or anything that requires a charge can fail. When your child is lost, you don’t want to worry whether there is enough power in the device. If you have trouble keeping your cell phone charged, consider if you can reliably charge yet another device and remember to take it with you every time you are out with the kids. The device can’t help find your kids if you are out and the device is no charged or accidentally left at home in its charging base.

5. Waterproof

At places like the Boston Children’s Museum in Boston and of course amusement parks, beaches, waterparks, and other such family venues, water, kids and electricity don’t mix well. Also be wary of any product like a sticker that will get destroyed when wet.

So, hopefully these are useful things to consider when selecting the appropriate safety products for your child. However, something is always better than nothing as long as it doesn’t replace your parental vigilance.

If you’d like more information about various products on the market, check out the audio and video seminars on CPLC's website. In those online formats, I discuss more specifically the pros and cons of the various available and future technologies and products.