Would a GPS locator on my kid qualify me as an overprotective parent?

It’s very easy to be an overprotective parent. I remember walking with a friend of the family when I was only a teenager and criticizing (in my head) the mother we were with as she let her 4-year-old run ahead of her at a busy amusement park. Her kid is now 18 and doing just fine. Was I wrong? I think about how crazy some parents get, baby-proofing like mad, knee pads and elbow pads to get on any moving object, and don’t get me started on those kid-leashes! But where does one draw the line? I sometimes feel like that obsessive parent — and I really don’t want to be!

I have two kids under the age of five and whenever we are in public with crowds of more than 10 people I hold onto them like they could be ripped away at any moment. Or when we are at a clothing store I have to be able to see them at all times. I really fear losing my kids, or more so, fear them being kidnapped. [Here is where I am supposed to say “poo poo poo” or “knock on wood” right?] So when I came across this article about the ability to put a GPS locator on your kid ^[1] I thought maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. Is that terrible? People put chips in their dogs now so they don’t lose them… aren’t our kids worth that much? Or are GPS locators just invisible leashes? I don’t think a GPS locator would take away any sort of “freedom” from my kids; they would just go about their activities and it would put my mind at ease. But then I think… would it put me too at ease?

Times are different now than they were when I was a kid… I used to leave school to go to lunch with my friends in the 2nd grade. We would walk to the shopping center, get a slice of pizza, go to the arcade, and then head back to school, all within our hour lunch — and it was all unsupervised. But back then you had the feeling that the neighborhood was watching out for you. It just doesn’t feel like that anymore, at least not in my town.

So then I remembered a site I’d seen a while back called Free Range Kids ^[2], where they advocate giving your kids the same freedom you had, and I started thinking, maybe I am too overprotective. My kids are still young, but how old can they be before I leave them in the house to make a quick run to the market? And doesn’t that age really depend on the type of kid you have? It just seems things have gotten more dangerous… or have they? Is it just my unwarranted fear? Does technology allow us to hear and see too much? I don’t know, but I think I am looking into the GPS thing.