These New Child-Tracking Sneakers Are Way Less Awkward Than Those Toddler Leashes Your Mom Used On You”

smart kid shoe

We’ve talked before on Mommyish about intruding on a child’s privacy and that it’s important to trust your kids. As far as GPS on phones and tracking a teenage child, the jury is out on whether that is the right way to parent. However, while your kids are still young, are there any negatives to having a microchip in their sneakers that could help you find them should anything tragic occur? It sounds like an amazing use of technology and these new child-tracking sneakers would definitely have a customer in me.

From Sole Collector, a description of the product made by Taiwanese chipmaker Mediatek and Chinese shoe company 361:

The model is intended for kids, and features a processor under the insole that has 4MB of RAM and a GPS, which can record the location of the wearer and transmit that data to a smart phone.

CNET reports that the there is a complementary app via which the wearer’s location can be viewed on a map, and possible future features include the ability to set up geo-boundaries so that an alarm is pushed out via the app when the wearer leaves the boundaries.

Shut up and take my money! Honestly, how amazing does that sound? It’s not as though most parents would utilize this daily and stalk their children, but how incredible would it be if a child somehow got lost or kidnapped and they could be tracked so easily? These shoes are not currently available in the United States but if they were, they would run about $80. To me, this would not be a shoe for daily wear but can you imagine at Disney World or somewhere especially crowded? It sounds like peace of mind to me. Realistically, with how fast kids’ feet grow, this would not be a sensible purchase for most families for regular use but if the price comes down in the next few years I could see it really taking off.

We have technology to thank for so many incredible advances in our lives. We are able to drive safer cars, get better medical treatment and transmit information more quickly than ever. Why not use that technology to keep our kids just a little bit safer? Right now, it would certainly be cost-prohibitive to most parents but over time, if the price came down, I can see where this would be an amazing development in child safety. How great would it be for police searching for a missing child to be able to track their exact location? It sounds like a simple microchip could avoid a lot of heartbreak and tragedy. Hopefully, this advance comes to the United States soon and in time, is affordable enough for most people to buy for their children. It seems like a no-brainer of a product to me.

(Image: 361 shoes)

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