With the personal experience under my belt of being the father of six children and the grandfather of several kids, I know firsthand the level of anxiety that parents have leaving their newborn children, their babies, often to a complete stranger. That stranger may have been the recommendation of a friend or even a referral from a babysitting agency-no matter he or she is still a stranger.
And I will admit that level of anxiety is highest for a newborn child. There still a certain level of anxiety leaving children of any age alone.
Recently in Cook County, Illinois a family used a hidden camera to see what their babysitter was doing. They had noticed that the 15-month-old was behaving strangely and had bruises on her body.
They installed a nanny camera and what they saw was absolutely disgusting-child abuse. They saw their babysitter was physically abusing the baby with choking and shaking.
Now I will be the first to admit that not every babysitter or nanny is bad-far from it. Probably less than 1 percent fall in that category. But let's face it you don't want to leave that to chance. A nanny camera allows you the opportunity to see what is going on when you're not there.
The nanny camera is nothing more than a board camera that is placed inside a common object that will not arouse suspicion. It can be connected to a separate DVR or VCR to record the images or some newer models have a DVR built-in. They are the most popular versions because they are simple to operate and actually can save you money.
There is another way to look at this too and that is if you do have a spy camera it may provide visual evidence that the person that you hired as the nanny or the babysitter is actually doing a very good job and will reaffirm your faith in hiring them.
Chances are if you are reading this that crime has touched your life in some way or you consider yourself at risk. Take the next step and do something to protect yourself! Your life, home security and child is worth far more than the cost of a nanny camera.