Gadgets that help parents monitor their children

American parents now can supervise their children better thanks to new gadgets.

A booming array of gadgets are being marketed to harried parents who want to keep tabs on their children, whether they are speeding in Mom’s car or texting after hours when they should be asleep.

There are fobs, watches and bracelets with location-sensing capabilities. Smart anklets track the ever-changing moods of babies. There is even a SleepIQ Kids Bed that can tip parents off when kids are up after hours.

Many of these devices — especially the ones designed to track older children — are reliant on the smartphones that teens hold so dear, given their location-tracking features.

“Parents want to feel more safe and in control of the situation; its a sort of feel-good thing that parents can do,” said Florida Atlantic University criminology professor Sameer Hinduja, Co-Director of the US Cyberbullying Research Center.

The six-year-old daughter of Frank Lee, a senior marketing manager at South Korean consumer electronics powerhouse LG, sports playfully colored GizmoPal wrist wear.

The LG device designed for children lets them make mobile phone calls to pre-programmed numbers by pushing a button, and also taps into GPS capabilities to let parents easily check whether they arrived safely at their expected destination.

GizmoPal can also receive calls, but only from select pre-designated numbers.

healthcareasia.org