KidJack

From the Associated Press:

The only grade school in this rural town is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move ...

The badges introduced at Brittan Elementary School on January 18 rely on the same radio frequency and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory ...

From "X10 Affordable Home Solutions" Letter to the company:

My teenage children are out of control. They have been sneaking out at night or even sneaking people into the house while my wife I are asleep. I even went so far as to contact Brinks and ADT ... We just gave up on the idea, and resigned ourselves to losing sleep from checking up on the kids...

I ran across an internet ad for the X10 Protector Plus Voice Dialer security system ...

I got a call on my cell phone when we were over at the neighbors. It was the Protector Plus calling me. I went home and caught my daughter sneaking her boyfriend into her room. Thank you X10. You gave us parents a new tool in our battle with teenagers.

From 13WHAM-TV:

Handing over the keys to a teenaged driver is a gamble no matter how trustworthy he or she is ... Some parents are turning to technology to keep an electronic eye on their kids' driving habits.

The technology allows parents to track their children's every stop, every start ...

What is going on? I'm used to seeing at least one "My Teenager is Out of Control" sweeps-stunt on the local news, but when did the systematic tracking of children become so wide-spread? Do we need to start treating our children like cattle or products?

I hate to pull an old cliché out of my hat, but I will: When I was younger, we simply didn't have this technology. So my parents incorporated a system called "trust". No electric wiring required.

If you need to install a security system to watch your kids - and describe your relationship with them as a "battle," you've got much bigger problems then the slimy kid next-door slipping into your daughter's room late at night. You may want to look into a system called "family therapy", No motion-sensors necessary.

Parents: Teenagers need their privacy - and they need their freedom. Sad but true; they are learning to live without you. They're going to make mistakes, and they're going to be punished, but you cannot use technology willy-nilly to try and prevent every bad thing from happening.

On a practical side, you know that kid that knew how to send pictures and put up a blog and use IM before you knew how to turn on the computer? How long will it take them to find a way around your new measures? From leaving trackers at their friends' houses, to hacks that will be on the internet in a matter of weeks; the safety of your children is going to come down to trust.

Do you trust your children? Do you trust the way you raised them? If so, then let them go; discover the mistakes and successes in their lives from them - not your computer screen.