'Nanny cams' monitoring child care
By Sonja Haller
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
PHOENIX — Regina and Raymond Esparza know that they can trust their child's baby sitter.
They know this not just because her references are excellent, or because their 2-year-old daughter, Mikaela, adores her, but because they watch her through a "nanny cam" that the child-care provider installed.
A wireless Web camera allows the Esparzas to type in a Web address, a user name and password from their work computers and watch Mikaela color and paint and eat her lunch under her nanny's supervision.
"My daughter had never been in day care, and I had a lot of anxiety," said Regina Esparza, 25, a private nurse. "You almost want one of those mirrors where you can see them, but they can't see you. Now I can log on and see her anytime I want. It's very comforting."
Nanny cams are becoming more popular tools for parents to check up on their baby sitter because the easy-to-use cameras have dropped into an affordable price range.
Hidden cameras — which can be concealed in cuddly teddy bears, a functional clock radio, a book or a plant — range from $120 to $400. Many are about the size of a quarter and are no harder to operate than a VCR.
The Esparzas' child-care provider, Amy Bowes, 34, wanted the camera to give parents a feeling of control. Plus, turning a camera on herself helped build her clientele.
"Parents, especially those with young babies, really want to see what's going on," Bowes said. "And it's good for them to know that someone could be watching their (child-care) provider at any moment."
Her $130 camera, which displays the playroom and the kitchen area, is always on.
With the clock-radio style — one of the most popular nanny cams — a user plugs the clock into the wall and attaches an included wireless receiver to a VCR. Some VCR tapes hold up to nine hours of video.
Parents also can use cameras in conjunction with digital video recorders, which can hold days of images. Using software or wireless Web cams, some home video cameras can relay live images to parents' cell phones or computers at work.
Parental interest in nanny cams has spiked in recent years, reports Dallas-based market researcher Parks Associates. In 2004, 39 percent of U.S. households with at least one child expressed an interest in using a nanny cam, up from 19 percent in 2002.
"The market is exploding," said Pat Palmer, owner of Spy Chest, an Internet business billing itself as the industry leader in spy cams. Sales of hidden cameras have doubled the 4-year-old company's growth every year, Palmer said.
In a time when more parents rely on child care and tales of abuse and neglect by caregivers make the news, some parents consider a nanny cam a safety device.
With increasing ease, parents can cyber-spy on their children and caregivers, but should they?
Bruce Weinstein, a professional ethicist who writes the syndicated column "Ask the Ethics Guy," says no.
If the camera is hidden, it "creates an atmosphere of mistrust and antagonism," Weinstein said.
If it's not, "it gives parents a false sense of comfort and control because their attitude is, 'I have a camera set up, I'm covered and I don't have to do my due diligence and do a background check or all the other follow-throughs."'
Nanny organizations echo the sentiment, saying the wisest approach is for parents to double-check references, use a reputable agency, ask tough interview questions and spend time with a child-care provider before hiring.
"I educate my families to use their parental gut instincts. If something doesn't feel right to them, then they need to let the nanny go," said Dianna L. Hughs, founder of All About Nannies, a placement service in Phoenix.
All content copyright © 1999-2008 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers and
may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this
service without the expressed written consent of Arizona Daily Star or AzStarNet is prohibited.
