Daycare Monitoring System

[Arcan]

Hello everyone. I want to apologize if this is the wrong place to post this as I am new to this forum. I am a student at university and am working on developing a monitoring system using Bluetooth bracelets to make sure children are safe and where they are supposed to be in a daycare as well as keeping the daycare personnel and parents up to date on where their child is and how they are doing. The bracelets would interface with the parent's phones, so at work, they can check up on their child through an application.

So I just wanted to ask you all here a few questions if possible.

1. Would this be something daycare personnel and parents would possibly want? If so, how do you feel about the bracelet idea as I do not want children to have to wear any strange device just something simple like a cute bracelet.
2. I want to add a gaming functionality so that children won't want to take them off and keep them engaged in wearing them. Do any of you have any ideas for thought on how to use a bracelet which will only track where they are in the daycare (inside a specific room or outside on the playground) for some sort or game or reinforcement feature?

Again, I would greatly appreciate any responses from daycare workers or owners.

[daycarediva]

Hello everyone. I want to apologize if this is the wrong place to post this as I am new to this forum. I am a student at university and am working on developing a monitoring system using Bluetooth bracelets to make sure children are safe and where they are supposed to be in a daycare as well as keeping the daycare personnel and parents up to date on where their child is and how they are doing. The bracelets would interface with the parent's phones, so at work, they can check up on their child through an application.

So I just wanted to ask you all here a few questions if possible.

1. Would this be something daycare personnel and parents would possibly want? If so, how do you feel about the bracelet idea as I do not want children to have to wear any strange device just something simple like a cute bracelet.
2. I want to add a gaming functionality so that children won't want to take them off and keep them engaged in wearing them. Do any of you have any ideas for thought on how to use a bracelet which will only track where they are in the daycare (inside a specific room or outside on the playground) for some sort or game or reinforcement feature?

Again, I would greatly appreciate any responses from daycare workers or owners.

Here are my thoughts.

1. Most parents would probably love something like this. Providers- not so much. Keeping track of them, making sure each child is wearing the correct bracelet, the expense to initially purchase/then replace each one. I guarantee it would be a daily thing where a child brought one home and it never would be returned.

2. NO NO NO NO NO. Kids DO NOT NEED MORE SCREEN TIME.

Other thoughts- nothing can replace the constant monitoring of an attentive caregiver. Having something like this in place might make someone complacent.

How would you make sure they were where they are supposed to be? Eg. would an alarm sound if they left the classroom? Would the teacher have to check each child in/out (teachers do NOT have this kind of time to do for every transition)

[Arcan]

So the idea is that the parent would buy in to the bracelet plan - they don't need it but it is there if they want. The children would not bring the bracelets home and they would be kept at the daycare.

The bracelets would only cost 15 dollars per child so the initial investment isn't much.

The bracelets would interact with a wifi-enabled device inside each room and that would send the data to the parent's phone application. If the child left the daycare or no movement was found from the child for a specific amount of time it would alert the parent as well as the daycare worker.

As for Question #2 I may have worded it poorly. The children won't have any phone on them or anything of the sort, just the bracelet (which has no screen). I was thinking a sort of game like this: as the child does what they are supposed to do, behaves, stays in the place they are supposed to be in, they can collect points and the teacher or worker at the end of each week can see which child has the most points and give rewards such as candy or stickers/toys to the children who have the most or acquired enough. I was wondering if anyone else might have a better idea or a way in which to improve my current one.

Again, thank you for your input!

[Blackcat31]

So the idea is that the parent would buy in to the bracelet plan - they don't need it but it is there if they want. The children would not bring the bracelets home and they would be kept at the daycare.

The bracelets would only cost 15 dollars per child so the initial investment isn't much.

The bracelets would interact with a wifi-enabled device inside each room and that would send the data to the parent's phone application. If the child left the daycare or no movement was found from the child for a specific amount of time it would alert the parent as well as the daycare worker.

As for Question #2 I may have worded it poorly. The children won't have any phone on them or anything of the sort, just the bracelet (which has no screen). I was thinking a sort of game like this: as the child does what they are supposed to do, behaves, stays in the place they are supposed to be in, they can collect points and the teacher or worker at the end of each week can see which child has the most points and give rewards such as candy or stickers/toys to the children who have the most or acquired enough. I was wondering if anyone else might have a better idea or a way in which to improve my current one.

Again, thank you for your input!

I am NOT a fan of any device that takes the place of actual physical awareness of the children in your care.

Many products have been placed on the market for monitoring kids in various activities (such as SIDS monitors etc) and none of them can replace actual physical checks and/or physical head counts.

Products like the one you are suggesting create a false sense of security and often times influences a provider to take risks or chances they normally wouldnt take.

I think your product could be useful for parents that take their child to large public places such as malls, zoos or amusement parks...this would help the parent track their child.

As a provider I am physically aware of where every.single.child in my care is at during every minute of the day because that is my job. If a parent required or requested a device that helped them track their child while in my care that says a lot about trust and trust between parent and caregiver is the foundation of the entire relationship.

[Silly Songs]

This sounds like something individual parents would be interested in. Children tend to wander more at home than in a daycare setting.

[daycarediva]

I am NOT a fan of any device that takes the place of actual physical awareness of the children in your care.

Many products have been placed on the market for monitoring kids in various activities (such as SIDS monitors etc) and none of them can replace actual physical checks and/or physical head counts.

Products like the one you are suggesting create a false sense of security and often times influences a provider to take risks or chances they normally wouldnt take.

I think your product could be useful for parents that take their child to large public places such as malls, zoos or amusement parks...this would help the parent track their child.

As a provider I am physically aware of where every.single.child in my care is at during every minute of the day because that is my job. If a parent required or requested a device that helped them track their child while in my care that says a lot about trust and trust between parent and caregiver is the foundation of the entire relationship.

This would be a HUGE asset to the special needs parents. If you marketed a GPS tracker with a movement alarm (eg autistic children and adults) I would absolutely buy one.

Right now, we have a video monitor hooked up to our autistic ds's room. It alerts us when there is activity so if he wakes at night, etc. Only, it's not so great during the day as there is no alert set up for 'no activity'.

[Snowmom]

Many of us don't allow jewelry of any kind. Whether it's teething necklaces, bracelets or hair accessories.
It's a hazard. Especially for active children.

Bracelets can get caught on play equipment= injury.
Injury=liability.

Something else to think about: Durability
Kids in an active program are constantly get wet and dirty and bouncing around play equipment.
Are these bracelets able to withstand that? If it's plastic- I see issues.

[Mike]

Sounds to me like this would be a good idea for parents at other places as a few have mentioned above, but like the others also said, probably won't be wanted in daycare.