My husband and I have a love-hate relationship with our baby video monitor.
While the monitor allows us to see cute moments, like our 2-year-old daughter talking to herself and jumping in her crib, I feel a bit like we’re invading our tot’s privacy, and the monitor also seems to be negatively impacting our sleep.
Anytime we hear our tot make a peep (or a scream) during the night, we wake up and check the monitor to make sure our daughter is still sleeping. And even if our daughter isn’t making any noises, my husband wakes up at least a few times a night and checks the monitor anyway.
Given that our daughter is no longer a baby and has been sleeping through the night for 19 months, I couldn’t help but recently wonder: When should we stop – or should we have stopped – the video surveillance?
Today’s hint is the answer, which I provide in a post over at The New York Times’ Motherlode blog.
As I write over at Motherlode, it turns out that my husband and I aren’t the only parents using the video monitors to watch our children long past the baby stage.
As moms and dads have increasingly abandoned audio monitors in favor of video versions, they’ve also expanded how long they’re monitoring their little ones. Now, many are watching their children longer than they perhaps need to, or should be. Check out the full post, “Thanks to Video Monitors, Parents are the New Big Brother,” to find out when to consider putting away that nursery camera for good.
What’s your take on when parents should stop the surveillance and why? Share your thoughts over at Motherlode.
I have a 2-months old baby and I’ve chosen not to co-sleep with my baby. After some reading of the various baby monitor reviews, I decided to purchase a Levana baby monitor. It has so far served its purpose well. I’m now able to carry on with all the things that I need to do with more peaceful piece of mind.
Regarding to your question on when should we stop intruding our child’s privacy, I think it is a matter of personal choice and it very much depends on how independent your child is. Often as parents, we don’t feel safe to leave the babies alone. But we have to do it at some point of time, do we not?