Wrist Band Tracking at Amusement Parks About This Page:

[RocketMickey]

Saw this on the web today and it seemed like a neat idea. I'll just post the link and y'all can cut and paste:

abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/tracker020622.html

The basic premise is that when you enter the park, you buy a wristband for $2 that is scanned by sensors placed around the area so that parents can keep track of children and vice-versa. And if the child leaves the confines of the park, it sounds an alarm. Sounds good, and it beats those 'child-leash' things I see sometimes. I think I'd be willing to pay the $2 - what do you guys think?

[Elliot'sDragon]

Great idea and would give some peace of mind to lost "parents."

[Love 2 Laugh]

For the time being I'd rather stick with my kids (and vice versa). Besides, we have too much fun together to split up.

Of course DD and DS have not yet reached the point of being embarassed that they have parents. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

I'm trying my hardest. They just say, "Dad, you're weird. And can I ride on the next rollercoaster with you?" [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[ariel1]

it's not a bad idea, but by the time a child is taken from "the confines of the park" anything could happen. the parks themselves are large enough when you're missing a child i would think. i used to hate the way the child-leash things looked too until i started thinking about having my 3yr old at a large crowded park. now, i don't know...

[RocketMickey]

I agree about the being unwilling to let my child roam the park alone thought. Mine's only 4.5 so there's no way I'd let him out of my (or my husband's) sight. We went to WDW when he was 3 and we always made sure whoever in the party was responsible for him, knew that was their #1 job.

I guess the concept of not ringing the alarm until the child is off-site is a bit like closing the barn after the horses are out. Perhaps an intermediate alarm in the form of a proximity sensor that would tell you when the child is X number of yards away from you or something would make more sense.

The part I found attractive was, that as soon as you turned around and noticed your child has wandered off, you could go to a kiosk and scan your wrist and it would tell you where the other one was.

You certainly wouldn't want to rely on it to "watch" your child for you. My policy with all these types of things, be it amusement parks, swimming pools, playgrounds, supermarkets, or anyplace your child can get into trouble is - Nothing can take the place of Adult Supervision!

[BRWombat]

Pretty nifty. But I'm one of those who will stay right with my children until they're 25 and married. And maybe after that. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[reinstructor]

Sounds fantastic to me. Our younger son could vanish while you were holding his hand. I really considered a leash. Never did. I think anything that could save even seconds in finding a lost child is probably really really good.

I'm glad this trip is just the two of us though. Our sons are supposed to be adults and are now the concerns of their spouses. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Dave Marx]

I'd be concerned that a system like this could give folks a false sense of security--"Let 'em wander, we've got wristbands!" It sounds like it could be a big help under typical lost child circumstances, though.

Having the alarm go off at the park exit is probably the only practical way to do things. There will be people at the exits to collect the wrist bands (otherwise the alarms will be going off constantly), so they'll be on hand whenever an alarm does go off.

How would a system work, if it set off an alarm when a child strayed too far within the park? It would have to know that the child was more than a certain distance from both parents (presuming the child is traveling with two or more guardians--if it was keyed to only one of the two parents, what happens in the case of a child swap, or the family splitting up for a while?). That means for every such family in the park, the system is constantly locating all family groups, and comparing the distances between each member of each group (quite a technological task!). Now, if the child strays one foot too far, how is the alarm issued? Does it go to a special receiver carried by the parent, or does it alert park security?

The possibilities are intriguing, but so are the complications. It'll be interesting to see how this technology develops.

[Mariposa]

I love the idea, and would completely support it if available on any trip with my DD.

I agree that it might lure some people into a false sense of security, but it would also allow some of us parents who never seem to feel secure to relax a TEENSY bit. To explain, my 4 year old DD, is AMAZING at getting lost in the blink of an eye. She's perfected this. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Sometimes it isn't possible to hold her hand every second. I keep a constant eye on her, but you other parents of ACTIVE children know what I mean. And she's too big for any of the child leashes (as far as I know, I've never used one.). This would be a God send!

Alicia

[ 06-28-2002, 11:29 PM: Message edited by: Mariposa ]