Supervising Your Nanny - No Matter Where You Are

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Supervising Your Nanny - No Matter Where You Are
By: Gen Wright
Being separated from a young child is a painful experience for any parent. Leaving the child in the hands of a caregiver, quite often, is even harder. This is why many parents have opted to supervise their children's nannies, no matter where they are, through the use of nanny cams.
Nanny cams are video cameras much like the surveillance cameras seen in shopping complexes. Nanny cams are always designed so that they can be picked up and taken from room to room very easily. As they are usually installed in children's rooms, they often come disguised as wall clocks, teddy bears,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], radio sets or even plant boxes. This means that they can be used without the caregiver's knowledge - something that has raised a lot of hackles among caregivers, and has led to the term "spy cam" being invented.
Nanny cams come in several types:
? Hidden or visible
? Wired or wireless
? With or without Live View internet options
? Hard wired(to a VCR or digital recording device)
? Battery operated - usually for car use
If you do plan to install a nanny cam, rest assured that it is legal in all the states of the USA. However, recording speech is illegal in the following states(in alphabetical order): California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennyslvania, and Washington.
Parents have different approaches about nanny cams. Some prefer not to disclose the presence of a hidden camera, as it may induce the nannies to indulge in abusive or harmful behavior in areas not covered by the camera's surveillance. Others prefer to declare upfront that there is a hidden cam in the house - if the nanny declines the job on that account, so be it.
There is a third set of parents, however, who use nanny cams with their children's caregivers, as a method of communication. With the webcam and online live view option, parents can keep an eye on their children at any time. This works out to everyone's advantage, as the nanny can consult the parent on issues at a moment's notice, while parents stay secure knowing that their nanny is doing the right thing.
Needless to say, nanny cams can also be used in other situations where one might require supervision. For example:
? They can be used like baby monitors to keep track of one's child from another room or from work, and can also be used as a medium of communication if the nanny or child is aware of its presence.
? To supervise sick adults, who refuse to be "taken care of".
? To remotely supervise people at their workplaces.
It is a sad situation that today, privacy is dead. The recent debates about Facebook's new (non)privacy policy have brought this point home to most people, while others choose to bury their heads in the sand and Google about everyone they need information about. Yet, nanny cams let people use this lack of privacy to their and their loved ones' advantage - hurting no one, but ensuring that their job gets done well.