Oh, and...
I heard a news story on the radio, today, about new GPS microchips being offered for kids.
GAK!
I realize that this is awesome safety technology. I wish we had GPS chips for our pets (it's only a non-removable ID tag, really). then again, if everyone could track their pets, there'd be less incentive to keep them in the yard...
Anyway. I am totally on board with pet microchips. I have heard great stories about pets being re-united with their owners. My favorites are stories about pets lost in hurricane Katrina that were re-united with their owners even though the owners were living with relatives in completely different states. In fact, the radio story went on to mention that a 2 year old child wandered off in the middle of the night with the family dog and the only way they could figure out how to get the child home was because Animal Control scanned the dog's microchip.
I'm not going to discuss the mother of this child, who apparently called the 16 year old babysitter and said, 'hey, can you stay overnight? I'm crashing at a friend's house instead of coming home,' which may lend some insight into how the child came to be wandering around outside with the dog in the middle of the night in the first place.
However, I don't feel comfortable making the decision to microchip my child. A pet will never learn to talk and will never be able to tell people where it lives. A child will. A child may eventually grow up to have strong feelings about GPS and the various theories about government tracking that are out there and resent that such liberties were taken with his or her body. A kidnapper may know about microchips and try to remove it himself, scarring the child for life. People live longer than pets. While it has been discussed as to whether or not microchip implantation causes cancer in pets, it may be that longer-lived creatures DO suffer long term consequences. Doubtful, but still an untrodden path.
I even think that microchipping Alzheimer's sufferers, epileptics and diabetics - people who have a high likelihood of becoming incoherent or unconscious - with chips that contain important medical and identification information is a good idea. However, these are people who are either
a) old enough to make their own decisions about having a procedure like this done, or
b) in the case of Alzheimer's disease, are not always capable of making rational decisions about their health care and never will be again
which places them in a different category than infants and children.
I'm sure I would feel differently if my child had been kidnapped, but hindsight is 20/20. Most of the microchipping naysayers purport that if you just keep a close eye on your children, you'd never need to microchip them. I believed that until recently. Heck, there are times I am paranoid to put my son in the car and leave him 'unattended' long enough to walk around to the other side of the car! Do I put him in the car, then go back inside for the next load of things that need to get into the car before leaving? Or do I leave him unattended in the house and fill the car first? What if I leave him 'unattended', strapped in his car seat and a piano falls on him? how long can I take my eyes off my son and NOT be a terrible mother? Can I go to the bathroom and leave him alone for two minutes in a baby-proofed house? Sure. Unless something goes wrong.
I thought I was a terrible mother, the day I let Xander eat cat food. One minute, he was playing happily at my feet while I loaded the dishwasher, the next minute, he was at the cat bowl, mouth full of kibble. At first, I told sirgarrett 'The fact that this happened must never leave this house! Can you believe what parenting101 would say?!?' The next day, someone posted there about the exact same occurrence. And many more mothers joined in. Cat food eating is a common occurrence!
And when we tell the stories, the refrain is, 'I just turned around for a second...'
That's when I start to think that a GPS microchip is a good idea.
I think I worry too much.
GAK!
I realize that this is awesome safety technology. I wish we had GPS chips for our pets (it's only a non-removable ID tag, really). then again, if everyone could track their pets, there'd be less incentive to keep them in the yard...
Anyway. I am totally on board with pet microchips. I have heard great stories about pets being re-united with their owners. My favorites are stories about pets lost in hurricane Katrina that were re-united with their owners even though the owners were living with relatives in completely different states. In fact, the radio story went on to mention that a 2 year old child wandered off in the middle of the night with the family dog and the only way they could figure out how to get the child home was because Animal Control scanned the dog's microchip.
I'm not going to discuss the mother of this child, who apparently called the 16 year old babysitter and said, 'hey, can you stay overnight? I'm crashing at a friend's house instead of coming home,' which may lend some insight into how the child came to be wandering around outside with the dog in the middle of the night in the first place.
However, I don't feel comfortable making the decision to microchip my child. A pet will never learn to talk and will never be able to tell people where it lives. A child will. A child may eventually grow up to have strong feelings about GPS and the various theories about government tracking that are out there and resent that such liberties were taken with his or her body. A kidnapper may know about microchips and try to remove it himself, scarring the child for life. People live longer than pets. While it has been discussed as to whether or not microchip implantation causes cancer in pets, it may be that longer-lived creatures DO suffer long term consequences. Doubtful, but still an untrodden path.
I even think that microchipping Alzheimer's sufferers, epileptics and diabetics - people who have a high likelihood of becoming incoherent or unconscious - with chips that contain important medical and identification information is a good idea. However, these are people who are either
a) old enough to make their own decisions about having a procedure like this done, or
b) in the case of Alzheimer's disease, are not always capable of making rational decisions about their health care and never will be again
which places them in a different category than infants and children.
I'm sure I would feel differently if my child had been kidnapped, but hindsight is 20/20. Most of the microchipping naysayers purport that if you just keep a close eye on your children, you'd never need to microchip them. I believed that until recently. Heck, there are times I am paranoid to put my son in the car and leave him 'unattended' long enough to walk around to the other side of the car! Do I put him in the car, then go back inside for the next load of things that need to get into the car before leaving? Or do I leave him unattended in the house and fill the car first? What if I leave him 'unattended', strapped in his car seat and a piano falls on him? how long can I take my eyes off my son and NOT be a terrible mother? Can I go to the bathroom and leave him alone for two minutes in a baby-proofed house? Sure. Unless something goes wrong.
I thought I was a terrible mother, the day I let Xander eat cat food. One minute, he was playing happily at my feet while I loaded the dishwasher, the next minute, he was at the cat bowl, mouth full of kibble. At first, I told sirgarrett 'The fact that this happened must never leave this house! Can you believe what parenting101 would say?!?' The next day, someone posted there about the exact same occurrence. And many more mothers joined in. Cat food eating is a common occurrence!
And when we tell the stories, the refrain is, 'I just turned around for a second...'
That's when I start to think that a GPS microchip is a good idea.
I think I worry too much.