Ever since our fourth child was born our two-year-old has had a difficult time going to bed at night. Sometimes she’ll come into the living room and tell us things like “I need a drink” or “I’m not tired.” Of course when she says this she’s rubbing her eyes and yawning. We started making deals with her. To get her to stay in bed, like “go to sleep and you can hold the baby tomorrow.” She must be incredibly intelligent, because she’s now figured out that any time she comes to us after getting out of bed, we’ll just pick her up and put her right back under her covers.
She recently discovered that she can stay out of bed longer if she doesn’t come to the living room at all. We would hear the sound of the door opening and when we didn’t see her face come around the corner we would go to investigate, finding her door open and bed empty. A thorough search of the surrounding rooms would find her hiding in bathroom or behind the laundry basket in the master bedroom. One evening as we were going to retire for the night I found her asleep underneath our bed. I had no idea how long she been there.
Installing the image sensor in her room solved a lot of our difficulties. With the revolutionary camera on the image sensor, I can set the device to “Peek in” the next time it detects motion. Additionally I created an alert that sends the picture directly to my phone when it’s taken. Once we put her in bed I open up my Alarm.com app on my phone and select “Peek In Next Motion.” Now, whether she decides to sneak into the baby’s room or head downstairs to the toy room, I’ll know about it before she can get there, and because the image sensor has five light emitters around camera it even works when it’s dark. I’ve used it more than once to check on her to make sure she’s actually in bed and not playing baby dolls on the floor or climbing into her sister’s bed to pull her hair.
Combining the Alarm.com Image Sensor with our IQ panel has given us a larger amount of freedom. After the kids are in bed, we arm the system in “Stay” mode. Knowing our home and family are safe while we are downstairs watching a movie, and that our Image Sensors will take pictures if the children leave their beds gives us a tremendous amount of freedom that parents of young children need. Perhaps we’ll bypass the back door and spend a relaxing romantic evening together roasting marshmallows over our fire pit or just looking at the stars. We could also head downstairs and watch a movie, knowing that if one of our kids leaves their room the Image Sensor will text us pictures of the little escapee and we can immediately escort them back to their cozy covers.
I live in a great neighborhood, and I believe that having a home security system helps keep this neighborhood safe. But that’s not why I have it. The peace of mind is fantastic, sure, but the real convenience comes from the everyday usage I get from my panel and the individual sensors.