I want to let me kid (now 5) be more independent. These days, at least in the USA, kids aren't allowed out until they are 10 or even older, and even then they often don't get to take the bus alone (I started doing that when I was in 2nd grade, in the 80s when crime was much worse than it is today, I was biking on my own outside when I was in Kindergarten). But I thought...something like an air tag, cellphone, and maybe a bodycam, might be a great way to balance a need to let the kid explore some things independently and keep safe at the same time. I don't know, I'm still in the planning stage on this.
I think GP is trying to find ways to feel like they're giving their child freedom without actually giving them any at all. But it's hard to think of anything worse for freedom than attaching a camera to to someone. Yes, technically they wouldn't be directly prohibiting the child from anything, but the presence of a camera means the child is forced to assume that everything they do will be judged by the parent even when the parent has no present physical control over the child.
He is only 5, he isn’t going to think like that, it’s not for judging reasons. It’s just to enable some early independence that would otherwise be impossible here (if we were in Japan, totally different story, but the USA doesn’t let 5 year olds go by the selves to the corner store to buy eggs).
Well, if I want to let him explore on his own somewhere outside, it might be an option. It isn’t something that we would sneak on him, he is already into gopro. It might work for some early trial runs? Like, walk around the block by yourself with this on (for a five year old, definitely not for a 10 year old).
a bodycam would be mostly useless since if anything "unsafe" happens like falling down a hole, or being kidnapped, the bodycam is going with them. even if it was streaming live and you were watching every second of it you wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
honestly it just sounds nuts that your you are even considering any of this but maybe things are that bad in the US these days i dunno
> These days, at least in the USA, kids aren't allowed out until they are 10 or even older
Or, you could ignore the overprotective parents and just let you kid run around. Maybe wait a few more years to align with your second grade goal, I don't know.
But it amazes me you live in a neighborhood where most parents don't trust their 10 year olds to take the bus.
I’m sure the meth smokers often sitting in the back of the bus make our situation a bit special. Ever since Seattle metro stopped fair enforcement or really any kind of security on the buses, things have gotten a bit out of hand.
You meant a metro bus? I will say it reads as though with ten-year-olds, parents are still escorting their children to the schoolbus stop every morning.
Dealing with drug users is difficult. I'm not sure fare enforcement is the panacea you seem to think it is. But then again, I don't really know a solution.
It’s not just that they are drug uses, they are often having their crisis on the bus, which is where the danger lies. The D Line isn’t as bad as the E Line, at least. We don’t really have that many school buses in Seattle, most kids are taking city buses. But that specifically isn’t a problem until middle school or so.
When they decided to stop enforcing fares is just when the problem got really bad. I’m not sure what would happen if they started back to the old normal, but the current changing point is probably not a coincidence.
