Should parents use technology to track kids?
EUGENE, Ore. -- Even a watchful father like Scott Hill knows child can disappear in the blink of an eye.
"I lost him once for about 2 seconds," Hill said of 3-year-old Zachary, "and it scared me to death."
And if a child disappears for more than a moment, the agony can magnify.
"You just go to the worst place because they're gone," said Barbara Leitermann, a mother and grandmother. "They're your child, you're tied to that child."
In the past, parents could only do so much to keep an eye on kids. Now there are tracking devices designed specifically for children so parents can keep tabs on them at all times.
Best Buy sells Insignia Little Buddy Trackers, devices a parent can put in a coat pocket, backpack or lunch box. The device lets parents track their kids online and alerts them via text message if their child leave a designated area.
There's also the LOK8U child GPS watch: it looks like a real watch but sends out alerts on a child's location.
John Miller at Lane County Search and Rescue said GPS tracking devices do help tremendously in a search -- but there are some things to think about.
"Quite honestly, I think we're losing some of our basic skills sets for survival," Miller said. "We also lose a little bit of our privacy regarding tracking devices.. I know we can track our kids in our car with a cell phone ... so there's a give and take situation there we need to be cognizant of."
Web sites like Glympse allow parents to download tracking systems onto a teen's cell phone or program it to their car so if they say they're going to the library -- and they go to a party instead -- you'll know.
There's also The Real Time Tracker showing a car's location and even the speed it's going.
Miller said there are tracking devices for just about anyone these days: kids, teens, the elderly, the adventurous, and the mentally ill to name a few.
He says if you use them, great; but "it doesn't take away your personal responsibilty for some education, some training and some knowledge if these electronic devices fail you."
