A friend of mine gave birth to her second child recently. She mentioned to me that she’s been looking at nanny cams. “You don’t have a nanny,” I said.
“I have a baby,” she answered. And she’s right, you know. With all the paranoia about what a nanny might do, we often forget about the trouble a baby can get into without help from anyone.
There’s the threat of SIDS, for example: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It has that vague name because no one is certain what causes it, except that it strikes healthy children and that it is related to certain types of bedclothes and certain postures. They say that in order to minimize the risk of finding your child dead in the crib, you should avoid soft bedding and make sure your baby lies on her back.
Except you can’t have your baby sleeping on a board, and how do you guarantee that he’s constantly on his back? You can buy some peace of mind by installing a nanny cam over the crib. Many parents already use audio monitors that let them hear if a child begins to cry, but these are not sensitive enough to let you know if your baby has stopped breathing, heaven forbid.
The logical step is to install a camera that lets you keep an eye on your baby while you’re busy elsewhere in the house. You should periodically visit the crib in person, of course, but if you have a monitor nearby, you can quickly glance at it to make sure that your child hasn’t rolled over onto her stomach.
Nanny cams are designed to be hidden, so they’re small and light, but that also makes them useful for situations where subterfuge is not a requirement. My friend feels that the portability of a nanny cam would be helpful to her because she has two cribs, and she often moves the upstairs one over to the next room. She intends to clip the cam to whichever crib she’s using at the time. I agree that a remote digital eye can be a valuable aid to good parental care.
Labels: cam, cams, nanny
by: Home-Spy-Shop
When I was down at the corner store earlier this evening, there were some kids milling around by the magazine rack. They were in high spirits because they had just come from a basketball game, I gathered. They were noisy but not threatening. Then the owner came over and went into a tantrum, yelling that kids were not allowed and that he desired their urgent departure, or words to that effect. I don’t think it’s legal to ban kids from your store, actually, even if you’re afraid of shoplifting. While I was paying for my milk, I suggested to the owner that he put in a hidden camera.
He already has a security camera in the corner of the ceiling, like all of these stores, but it doesn’t do much good. First of all, the sightlines from there are terrible. You can tell from the monitor, which is on display behind the cash register, that the camera picks up little more than your head and shoulders unless you’re standing right by the counter. The farther back you go in the store, the less the camera sees what anyone is doing. I could go back there and stuff a quart of milk down each leg of my pants without fear of being recorded on video.
The bigger problem is that this camera is a bulky piece of equipment that everyone can see. It’s just too visible to prevent any petty thievery. Of course there’s a sign that says shoplifters will be prosecuted, but in order to ward off the criminal element, you actually have to catch someone. That’s how word gets around the neighborhood that your store is not a good place to steal from.
Now if you had a
hidden camera and you installed the monitor under the counter where only you could see it, that would keep potential thieves on their toes. You could install the camera on a low shelf and get good angles, plus you could move it to a different spot every week. Just catch one or two shoplifters in the act, and whether or not you choose to prosecute, your store becomes a much less attractive target.
Labels: camera, hidden
by: Home-Spy-Shop
