CAPTAINS LOG: 28th January
I had many preconceived ideas of what parenthood would be like…until I had my boys. Only to then realise that I didn’t have the first clue what it would be like, what I would feel and what random shit would go through my mind on a daily basis. The world I see as a parent is not the world I saw pre-kids. I’ve said before that I have, at times overwhelming guilt of bringing my beautiful beings into this world and at times, its been almost too much to bear. But where there is ugly there is beauty and we can’t live a life hiding behind a tree.
BUT whenever I start thinking about the trails and tribulations that come with being a Mum I come back to one thought….GPS trackers. In body GPS Trackers!
WHY aren’t I allowed to have a GPS tracker fitted into my children’s’ bodies? I am not joking. Why can’t I?
HAVE you ever seen the film Lion? I highly recommend it. It is a beautifully made and shot piece of cinematic brilliance. It is also heart-wrenchingly sad, frightening and whilst ultimately uplifting, will take your heart out and stamp on it like a cockroach found in your kitchen….side note: can you really not kill those things?
WHEN I went to watch this at the cinema I only knew the basic premise of the story. It KILLED me people! I was a mess. I cried silently. Almost through the entire film. I came out of the cinema with a blotchy face, a blocked, snotty nose and a headache the size of the Bermuda Triangle.
AND the thing that made it worse (how could it have got worse???) is that it is based on a true story. Did you know that around 113,000 children in the UK alone are reported missing each year. And that’s an estimate.
NOW in my world, the world where I am allowed to put a GPS tracker in my kids, getting lost would never happen to another child. This is the ideal. It goes without saying that even if this were a reality, it would probably only really be available to those who lived in relative wealth.
OF all the fears I have felt since the boys’ were born, the single biggest one is that either of them one day go missing.
I think we have all felt the obvious disparity between the cases of Ben Needham and Madeleine McCann. Ben went missing in 1991 whilst staying with his Grandparents at their holiday home on Kos, Greece. His Mother Kerry has spent the years since trying everything to search for her boy. There was no neglect in this case. Just a little boy who had been running in and out of the house all day whilst his grandparents worked on their renovations of the house and his Mum worked at a nearby hotel.
Over the years, there have been many photos of Kerry and as a parent, I feel her obvious pain and suffering at the loss of her child. Had putting a GPS in your child been available, this ‘could’ have been a very different story.
WHILST the disappearance of Madeleine is no different, personally speaking, I do not believe the account given by her parents regarding that evening or the events prior to her going missing or what happened after. I would never put my hand up for parent of the year but, again personally, I would never dream of leaving me three small children in a room alone just so I could have a meal in peace. Call me overly cautious but thats how I feel and how I have behaved since my boys entered the world.
BUT my point is had Madeleine been tagged with a GPS, she too, could have been found. So why aren’t we allowed to fit a GPS? I did a bit of reading up on it and the initial chip wouldn’t actually be the issue but the child/person would have to carry around a bulky cellular receiver and battery. Far from ideal.
NOW I am not scientist/engineer/electronic genius but l just don’t believe that a GPS tracker need be the size of your lunch Tupperware tub! Surely, in a world where they can do and make the most extraordinary and amazing gadgets who is a ‘chip that does everything’ not possible? I can put a chip in my dog which can be scanned if she is ever lost (which is a huge possibility as that bloody bastard is like Houdini when she gets near the front door! Seriously, I was going to spell that HOUNDini to see if anybody noticed)
THERE are some ‘tracking’ devices available out there. My friends Dad has Alzheimer’s. In the past few years she has tried many different ways to keep a track on him as he doesn’t live locally. But it is mainly dependent on him not leaving the devices she has purchased behind. For instance, she had an electronic fob on his keys. That’s great, we all take our keys when we leave home! But Alzheimers’ can mean there are days when he doesn’t remember to take them. Then you’ re back to square one and you have no idea where he actually is because the keys are on the coffee table in the sitting room.
MY boys’ started High School last September. The list of lost items so far: one trainer, two lunch bags, 3 drinks bottles, one tie, two pairs of swimmers (which cost a bloody fortune!) one pair of PE socks and a one school shirt. Can you see the issue here? The only way I would be able to guarantee ensuring that a GPS tracker STAYED with my child would be to fit it in his body. Boys….just saying!
RECENTLY, my local community has started a Neighbourhood Watch page on Facebook. I honestly wish I never knew about it. I seem to feel more scared and paranoid daily. I wish I could stop reading it but I don’t think living in a bubble helps either. So I read the posts, think HOLY SHIT we need to move then instantly regret reading the post. Does it stop me? Not yet.
PARANOIA doesn’t keep you or your children safe. Speaking to your kids and being honest (preferably without scarring them for life or scaring the shit out of them…although that has its place at times too) and explaining that there is a lot of good in the world but sometimes there is bad too. And that means not putting yourself in a vulnerable situation or high risk place. Its about being a bit smarter. And ultimately that’s the only wisdom we can install in them as we can’t, no matter how much we want to, wrap them in cotton wool and hope the wind doesn’t blow on them. I don’t think we need to boost the current numbers of the ’Snowflake’ generation.
AND just think, if this technology was around, Nemo would never have got lost, Dory would never have gone on an adventure that she couldn’t remember making and Bruce the Shark would never know that fish were his friends.
BIG SNOGS
Kitty xxx
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