When I was in grade school, I took a bus in the morning and had a morning routine — one of my grandmothers would walk me to the bus stop and make sure I safely got on before going home. I sometimes see parents in my building doing the same for their children, along with the occasional grandparent. One father decided he wanted to take what could be a loving task and make it ever so slightly Panopticonic and built a drone plane to follow him to the bus stop — all four hundred meters, that is.

I had to read the article a few times to get that the father never really succeeded in building a working drone, but it gave me pause to think of all of the parents who would gladly send out robots to follow their children to school instead of taking the few minutes out of their day to do it themselves. I imagine that when our son Chaim Yosef is of school age, my wife or I will be there with him on the way to the bus stop in the morning as our family was there for us.

If you look at the comment section of the articles, you will see that a lot of the people are rather vicious toward the father’s parenting ability and question what he would do under extreme circumstances that happen too often to our nation’s children — kidnapping, for example. What could a tiny helicopter with a camera do for the father other than show him the tragedy in progress?

I noted that the only reason that the father is currently abandoning his helicopter drone plans is because the battery life just isn’t good enough. I can only hope that he will see reason — that no flying helicopter can ever substitute for a father and that the warmth and dryness he enjoys by staying inside cannot compare with the time that he is missing out with his son. There are many days that I would love to switch places with Elizabeth and have her sit in my chair at the office all day while I take care of Chaim but that is not to be, alas. Would you ever send out your children in the care of a helicopter drone? I cannot imagine ever doing so.

4 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    This is likely what’s in store for us all soon — our own government-provided drone that will follow us around all day long and record our every movement… for our own safety, of course.

    1. Gordon Davidescu – Born in Perth Amboy, Gordon Davidescu lives in Queens with his wife, children, cat, and plush bears. He loves reading a good book whether it is cloth and paper or digitally.
      Gordon Davidescu says:

      I hope my drone is purple and goes by the name Jeeves. It will probably be jet black and be called Anthony, though.

      1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
        David W. Boles says:

        Ha! I’m also sure our drones will be nuclear powered, too, to avoid the battery drain problem. We’ll have our own little forever pollutants hovering above us just waiting to report us for any little misstep.

        1. Gordon Davidescu – Born in Perth Amboy, Gordon Davidescu lives in Queens with his wife, children, cat, and plush bears. He loves reading a good book whether it is cloth and paper or digitally.
          Gordon Davidescu says:

          Maybe with a few solar panels — just in case!

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