Your Kids on Camera

While browsing around the Net for information on daycare facilities, I found some interesting information about the use of cameras at daycare centres or at home where your children are under the care of a sitter/nanny. Through a dial-up connection, the camera transmits to a server where you can dial in and see the pictures.

What are the benefits of these cameras?
• For mothers who have just returned to work, this may help your feeling of detachment from your child. Seeing him/her on camera can help alleviate the feelings of detachment. Some mothers may visit the daycare on their lunch break but the child may get upset at the fact you are just visiting and not taking them home. It can be upsetting for the parent, too.
• If your child has just started at a new daycare, this may help alleviate the worry of how your child is coping with his/her new surroundings. It is only natural to hope they are fitting in. You are also aware of how the activities are conducted during the day.
• Maybe your child has complained about being bullied by another kid. This may be one way of substantiating his or her claim. Of course, you have to be lucky enough for a picture to be taken at the right moment. Even then, frozen frame cameras may not tell the whole story.
• It may confirm any suspicions you have of the caregivers actions. Mind you, the presence of a camera may ensure the staff are on their best behavior. If this is the case, your child will benefit from the improved overall quality of care. For the owner of a large daycare, the cameras can be a means of keeping an eye on the staff. There are regulations as to the location of the cameras; apparently, they can't be in bathrooms or diaper areas. If the staff is aware of the camera-free zones, then this is where they may act inappropriately. I'm not sure if it's required by law to inform employees there are cameras installed.
• If your children are old enough to be on their own, you can dial into your home camera and see what they are doing. In this situation, you don't have to tell the kids you have a camera installed.

Many places of business use hidden cameras and the activity is monitored live on a viewing screen or recorded on tape for a playback in a VCR. The pictures from these are not viewable from a dial up connection. Some cameras can be disguised as a clock radio or placed inside emergency lights or hidden in the ceiling. The cameras used for transmitting to the Internet are hooked up to a modem. (the following pictures are a clock radio camera, modem camera, and ceiling dome camera)

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