Would You Chip Your Kid?
“Hello Lisa”
“Oh hey girl…what’s up?”
“Did Natalie go to CLSC today?”
“No, she didn’t have classes today…why…what’s up?”
“Tayair…he left the house this morning at 7:00 am and it’s almost 10 pm. He’s not answering his phone or responding to his text messages. His father left to check the parking lot at his job….”
My mind was racing a mile per minute and the only thoughts in my head were negative which directed me to this question…
Would you chip your kid?
Granted, my son is no longer a kid, he’s 23 years old , but he’s also intellectually disabled, but even if he wasn’t – I still would have been beside myself the night he didn’t come home after being out all day without a call or response to a text message.
Thankfully, the story ended well but it started me wondering, would I have chipped him when he was a kid. I remember BC, before children, I often thought negatively of parents who put those backpack leashes onto their kids but once I had mine, it only took losing Malik for 3 minutes to understand why they did.
One minute he was standing besides me and the next minute he was gone…he had followed a waitress into the kitchen as we were being walked to our table in a very large restaurant. Needless to say, I swallowed my heart that day as well. I almost bought a backpack leash the first time we traveled to Disney World, but chose instead to keep him in an umbrella stroller.
When the boys entered high school and started driving they each had a cell phone so I signed up for the ‘Family Locator”. Having this phone app with Verizon provided me with a sense of security. I could set the alerts to text me when they arrived at school and also when returned home in the afternoon.
I could track their phones when they were driving to the mall or to after school activities. Unfortunately, Malik learned how to deactivate the app on his phone and when they upgraded to the iPhone I lost the capability to track them. #TeamAndroid
However, with so much going on at college campuses, I sometimes wish that they each had an implanted tracking device so that I could just check in now and again to make sure they were where they were supposed to be.
I know in my heart that it would have been helpful to the parents of missing kids. Pet parents who chip their pets are happy when they find a lost or missing pup. I truly think that it is definitely something worth looking into when it comes to the safety of our kids or adults with disabilities.
I understand that there are security and safety measures to take into consideration, as well as plenty of pros and cons on this issue, but once again my question to you is “would you chip your kid?”
