New Gadgets Keep Kids Safe In The Dark
BOSTON (CBS) - Part of the fun for kids on Halloween is running through the neighborhood in the dark, but parents do worry.
There are some new high-tech gadgets on the market that can keep kids safe on any night of the year.
Laura Hart, for instance, lives in what she considers a pretty safe neighborhood, but she's still anxious about her kids.
"I have a tendency to be a little bit of a worrier with my children when they're not at home."
Especially if they're out after dark!
So she likes the idea of gadgets like night vision goggles that help her son see and which help others see him.
"Any lighting gadgets I would say I would be for...lighting up the street, lighting up bumps, anything they could trip on."
Night vision goggles are just one of many new devices for kid safety, according to Dan Ackerman of CNET.
Remember the old reflector tape?
It's not just tape anymore.
"They have snap-on bracelets, they have stick-on Velcro armbands, they have little light-up LED lights.
Ackerman says "you can stick them on your front or your back."
You can even get strobe lights for kids, and the flashlights of the past have been updated with LED lights as well.
"They run a really long time on a battery charge. They don't really get warm and they can be very, very tiny."
There's even a kid-friendly hand-held GPS to help, and if your child has a cell phone, you can keep track of them from home by downloading a special app.
"So," says Ackerman, "if you take your kids' phone number, punch it into Google Latitude, then you can keep an eye on them remotely."
Finally, in the event that your child ever was lost – or missing – you can enter your child's identification information into a USB device that fits on a keychain and can be linked to the Amber Alert Law Enforcement Portal.
It might just give you some peace of mind in the dark.
