Video surveillance INSIDE the house?

Charlie - posted on 05/24/2012

sorry, I know the thread is old. move it to the appropriate current thread if needed (didn't find one but wasn't too much looking TBH)

Charlie - posted on 05/24/2012

bringing up the question, though it might be old. how is the situation different now? guess there're more surveillance advocates nowadays.
The reason I'd like to hear your opinions on this thread is that being in a situation much like @Kelly (above) recently we've had surveillance system installed. Well actually we've made it ourselves using our laptop, 4 IP cams (2 Axis and 2 D-Link) that generally cover all areas in home, Xeoma software, and our iphones to watch it from away. We did it not to spy on someone or restrict one's privacy, it's just to stop being worried if everything's ok back at home. I'm not freak about watching my child's every move but I'm concerned about his safety. I never thought it was immoral perhaps I never meant to do something like that

Corena - posted on 11/01/2010

I would absolutely use one if I had someone in watching my little one. They would know it was there.

Candi - posted on 11/01/2010

I don't see myself using one. I hope I n ever have to. I trust my kids to the fullest extent right now. Of course they are young, 11, 10, and 5. It would be nice though when my daughters are fighting--I could rewind the tape and see who is to blame! LOL. Otherwise, I don't see the reason for it. I am a SAHM mom, so my husband might catch me playing the Wii, and the cat chasing the poor dog, but nothing useful.

Maurin - posted on 11/01/2010

See!!! Things I haven't thought about!!! Keep em coming ladies! :) We are actually in the process of switching therapists. The first appointment with the new one is today. The last one we saw, we saw him for 2 years. In the beginning it seemed to work, but once she got comfortable around him she started acting out again, only this time it was much worse. Maybe the surveillance would be a deterrent for her. She's going to know it's there. She's already sneaky so I'm not sure if it would make her more so. She's sneaky in taking things but when it comes to hiding them so no one would find out she really sucks :) I want her lies about it to stop. I'm hoping that once she's caught on tape taking things that aren't hers we can show her and confront her with it. Some of the things she takes are really no big deal, but when she's asked where she got it from, instead of just saying something like "Oh I got it from the book cabinet under the printer (printer paper)" she'll say "I found it at school on the playground" Something so random that you KNOW she didn't find printer paper on the playground at school. We tell her up front that we don't trust her! She'll ask us why we don't believe her and we tell her it's because she constantly lies to us about EVERYTHING!! Even whether or not she has brushed her teeth!!!! It's to the point where if she came in from outside and told me that the sky is blue I would NOT believe her! How SAD is that?! Sorry, I'm a bit frustrated right now if you can't tell. :)

Toni - posted on 11/01/2010

Maurin I could see that causing more issues though because you are blatently saying you do not trust her. What do her therapists think of the idea of using surveillance?

Also could that just teach her how to be more sneaky? How to get around the surveillance or how to just do it when there is no surveillance? Just a thought

Maurin - posted on 11/01/2010

Leah, you bring up my next question. Say your children ARE teenagers (or tween-agers) and one or both (in my case just one....the tween-ager) has been stealing and sneaking things that aren't hers.....since she was 6 (now 11). It started outside of the house and just with silly things like paper and things for crafts from our church. It has progressed to stealing money and valuable objects from myself, her dad and her older brother. She's even scarfing down food in the middle of the night! She has to be on a special diet for medical reasons. When asked about the stealing and scarfing she flat out denies that she's the one who did it. When it's later found in her room she feigns ignorance and swears up and down that she doesn't know how it got in her room. One night I found 7 cheese wrappers underneath her stuffed animals on her loft bunk bed. She told us her brother must have done it......he doesn't like cheese! We've been in therapy for this and other issues since it started when she was 6! It's only gotten worse. My husband and I are now toying around with the idea of installing security cameras in all three bedrooms and the kitchen. I want to trust my daughter, but she is making it impossible. I trust my son completely! The cameras would be off in his bedroom while he is home. They would be turned on only while everyone is gone or sleeping. I don't want this to turn into an argument. I'm just looking for different sides to the coin, so to speak.

Toni - posted on 11/01/2010

Kelly, there is only a handful of people I trust with my son. They are my parents, my in-laws and our best friends. I will not leave my son with my brother not because I feel he will hurt him on purpose but because I know he is stupid and may hurt him by accident as he doesn't know any different (when it comes to looking after children).

I know my parents will not hurt my son because they raised me and my brother and never hurt us, we have discussed the fact they are never to spank my son though as they did us and they are more than happy to go along with that.

My in-laws I have known them for years now and trust them without doubt because I KNOW my husband would never leave our son with anyone who could hurt him. My hubby is the youngest of 5 so he has grown up with all the in-law partners that married into the family and knows they would never do anything to hurt anyone let alone a child.

Our best friends, Ethan's Guardian parents, we have known them since we were in school and I know that they love Ethan almost as much as we do and they would be right next to us if anyone ever did hurt him.

The only 'strangers' I have left Ethan with were the creche at my local childrens centre (which is attached to the school and nursery he will be attending). I left him while I was attending a paediatric first aid course with them, both Ethan and I knew the nursery nurses who looked after him due to other classes we attended at the centre, and were both comfortable with them because I have seen the way they interact with not only Ethan but other children when they didn't realise anyone was watching.

TBH that is one of the reasons for me becoming a SAHM, because it took me a while to learn to trust people with my miracle son, the first time I left him with my parents I had to come home early because I was physically ill leaving him lol.

Kelly - posted on 11/01/2010

Btw, somehow I totally misinterpreted the "keep an eye on your little one" part--I was tired and must have read it wrong b/c reading it now, I have no idea how I got what I did out of it :P

Anyway, I do not use it to watch my son right now, there is no point. It will still be there when he is a teen, and he knows about it and will still know about it then, so I will use it as a deterrent for having parties, drinking, or any other things he should not be up to. I would NEVER use surveillance on anyone who did not know it was there. I just don't think that is fair.

Leah - posted on 11/01/2010

If I had someone in my house looking after my kids, 100% I would have one. I've just seen too many video's of nanny's abusing kids and parents saying they had no idea, sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. But yes, just the same as Kelly, we would tell everyone as well. I would rather stop someone from doing something horrible, then for them to do it and catch them after wards.

But as of right now, we have no need for one and I don't see needing one in the future. My kids are too young and it would make me uncomfortable. When they are teenagers, I might change my mind ;)

Kelly - posted on 11/01/2010

Toni, you brought up a good point here: " IF someone is looking after my son I trust them to look after him and NOT harm him in anyway."

How do you get to the point where you trust them so completely? My son is 6 now, and I still have not met anyone I trust completely with him. At that time in my life, not working was simply not an option for us, so I had to leave him with someone. For me, there always seemed the possibility that they could get past the SLED check, provide fake references, or maybe they just hadn't been caught yet doing something harmful, and my son would be the first one they seriously hurt. I did multiple interviews, but the way people are in interviews can be dramatically different from they way they are when they are not being watched and evaluated. You know?
I know eventually, we have to learn to trust others with our children (mine started school this year) and I'm not saying you shouldn't trust the people you've chosen to trust, I'm just wondering how you get to a point where you do trust them--how do you KNOW you can trust them?

Toni - posted on 11/01/2010

I wouldn't use it because IF someone is looking after my son I trust them to look after him and NOT harm him in anyway. If I was unsure I would NOT leave him with them, he is far to precious to me.

I wouldn't use it to check on my kids either because I feel that everyone NEEDs privacy and space without being spied on.

BTW I don't mean any disrespect to those that do have it and find it useful this is just my opinion and why I won't use it.

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 10/31/2010

I wouldn't do it to watch my kids. I know that some home security systems have them around the house and at the front door. I would never put cameras in my house that my kids didn't know about. I could see wanting it in Kelly's situation when you have a nanny watching your kids. I wouldn't use it to spy on older kids though.

Kelly - posted on 10/31/2010

We already have it. It is part of our security system. It is not in any of the bathrooms or our bedroom, but it is in all other rooms, and in all areas surrounding our house.

Our "breaking point" came when I was pregnant and knew I was going to have to hire someone to care for my child while I worked. I didn't trust day cares at the time due to several high profile cases of abuse, so we knew we would be hiring a private nanny. Of course I did sled checks, called references, and everything else I could to make sure she was qualified, but I could not be sure.

We tell everyone who enters our home that there is video surveillance, so we are not "spying" on anyone--they all know it is there.



I hoped that just knowing about it would provide enough deterrence that I would never actually have to review the video, and thus far, we've never had any problems. I did review it a lot when our nanny was new, but she was always wonderful with him. There may be a day when just knowing it is there will not deter a person bent on harm, but should that day ever come, I will have a record and most likely the police will be able to catch and convict the person.

Basically, it was piece of mind for me, and it is worth every penny.

Barb - posted on 10/31/2010

We have friends. He is an IT guy for a major company, she is a stay at home wife. The company was sending them both on a trip to Hawaii. He was concerned about leaving the house and set up video cameras all over the house to monitor it from Hawaii. He could log in there and view what was going on in each nook and cranny of his house.

One morning my husband and i are watching the news and they are arresting this Al Queda suspect. The scenery looked familiar and when they read the address we realized it was the property that backed up to our friend's house!!

Nothing happened inside his house while he was gone, all the excitement was on the outside!!

I value my privacy and would rather have a relationship with family members built on openness and trustworthiness.

Home is the one place where you should be able to relax, let your hair down, and do stuff you wouldn't do where someone else might see you. Home is a safe place and i would see the camera as an intruder into that haven.