A system has a plurality of transceiver units, including a parent unit and one or more portable and wearable child units, for generating an alarm when a child transceiver unit is more than a predetermined distance away from a parent transceiver unit. The distance is determined by the difference in the phase of a reference signal from the time it is transmitted on an rf signal by a parent unit, received and retransmitted by a child unit, and then received again by the parent unit.