The Spy Who Raised Me

By Amity Last edited 203 months ago
The Spy Who Raised Me
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Working mothers have begun using webcams to keep an eye on their sproglets playing the day away in childcare while they slave the day away at the office. Whatever happened to eyes in the backs of mothers’ heads? Today’s technology has obviously weeded out that gene in more modern women. Our mothers took every opportunity to remind us of their freakish back-of-head vision. But for the hip, young mamas who want to ensure that little Thomas and Hannah are doing their flashcards correctly and have eaten their organic, free-range, locally grown carrot stick, these webcams are ideal.

Melissa Kao, founder of Nurserycam, said: "By enabling parents to view live images of their child at play via the internet from wherever they are, they can see for themselves that their child is fine and the nursery is doing a fantastic job.

"Simply put, it provides parents with a means to be involved in their child's daily achievements and share to some degree in their milestones."

Sounds great, right? But some nursery workers object, saying the webcams create “human rights and invasion of privacy issues, both for the children and the nursery workers.”

We can see their point. Imagine how confusing it must be for the child who hits someone at nursery, only to be told off for it later at home. Pants! But it’s hardly as weird as some other products out there aimed at babies and their parents.

Besides that, do we really need to add even more cameras to the 4.2 million already in use in the UK? That’s one camera for every 14 people. The kids growing up in this Eye In The Sky age will become pretty passé about the whole thing soon, we expect. We’re waiting for the day when a kid is asked by Father Christmas at the local shopping centre if he’s been good or bad and he replies “I don’t know. Check the CCTV footage.”

Photo courtesy of Pascal B.'s photostream

Last Updated 13 April 2007