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A friend of mine found out that a GPS tracking device was a good way to get her child to stop wanting a cell phone.
When she upgraded her teen's cell phone with GPS tracking, her teen handed it back to her and said, "No thank you. I'd rather not have a phone."
My friend found out that mistake cost her because now she can't reach her child whenever she pleases.
Funny how parents complain about their chidlren using cell phones and then suddenly find themselves trying to force their children to keep their cell phones with them.
What do I think? Life is not that complicated. It's entirely possible to parent and keep children safe without monitoring their ever single move. IMO it's dangerous to rely on technology.
I think we should just microchip our kids when they are born.
On a serious note, if your kids have cell phones with GPS, make sure they know that when they take a picture, it's stamped with it's location as well as the date and time. If they then post said picture on the internet, they have just published where they were when the picture was taken. For this reason (and that I'm cheap) our phones do not have GPS.
My son is 11. I have GPS on his phone. He knows it, he knows it's for his safety and that it's the only way he'll ever have a cell phone. He doesn't mind. It texts me when he comes and goes out of my 'set perimeters' and I can set it to "ping" me automatically at a certain time on a certain day - it has a lot of options. If I just "ping" him via text, it will send his phone a notification, but if I set it up to do it automatically, it does not. While I do not sit and "watch" it, he and his sister, and a bunch of their friends, went missing one day. We were frantic - and after a couple hours, they finally called - that is the day I had the locator put on his phone. There are parents with missing teens and there are teens who've gone missing that wish their parents had it on their phones. If your child is 16 and their curfew is midnight, wouldn't you have peace of mind, if their phone gave you a text at 12:05am letting you know they were just a couple miles from home (and just going to be a little late) vs 50 miles away, in a town that they had no plans to go to and getting farther away by the minute?
BTW -If a child hands you back a cell phone with GPS tracking and says, "No way", that probably means they're going places and doing things you wouldn't allow. That parent has some big issues. People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
Oh- and you can disable the 'geotracking' on photos without disabling the tracking feature.
If a child hands you back a cell phone with GPS tracking and says, "No way", that probably means they're going places and doing things you wouldn't allow. That parent has some big issues. People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
Your child is 11. My friend tried doing this to a 17 year old. Your rule is that it's the only way your son can own a cell phone, a strong motivator for an 11 year old who wants a cell phone. My girlfriend's teen made it clear she would rather not have a cell phone provided by her parents when she's perfectly capable of buying her own cell phone plan.
And my friend didn't have big issues with her daughter. She's 20 now, off to college and doing great, never gave her parents trouble at all. For her daughter, it all came down to being offended---making her feel like her parents didn't trust her when she never gave them a reason to not trust her. Some people, even teens, take issue with monitoring for the sake of personal liberity and no other reason, nothing to hide.
It really was comical because parents saying "this is the only way you can have a cell phone" usually when the parents are the ones who want their children to have a cell phone, never thinking through that it can backfire and their children very well might prefer to not have a cell phone.
Your child is 11. My friend tried doing this to a 17 year old. Your rule is that it's the only way your son can own a cell phone, a strong motivator for an 11 year old who wants a cell phone. My girlfriend's teen made it clear she would rather not have a cell phone provided by her parents when she's perfectly capable of buying her own cell phone plan.
And my friend didn't have big issues with her daughter. She's 20 now, off to college and doing great, never gave her parents trouble at all. For her daughter, it all came down to being offended---making her feel like her parents didn't trust her when she never gave them a reason to not trust her. Some people, even teens, take issue with monitoring for the sake of personal liberity and no other reason, nothing to hide.
It really was comical because parents saying "this is the only way you can have a cell phone" usually when the parents are the ones who want their children to have a cell phone, never thinking through that it can backfire and their children very well might prefer to not have a cell phone.
This.
Nothing says I don't trust you and have no faith in you like a GPS.
If your child is 16 and their curfew is midnight, wouldn't you have peace of mind, if their phone gave you a text at 12:05am letting you know they were just a couple miles from home (and just going to be a little late) vs 50 miles away, in a town that they had no plans to go to and getting farther away by the minute?
Actually, I'd rather my child have the common sense and courtesy to call or text if they know they are going to be running late. Or respond to a text asking where they are.
Seriously has never crossed my mind to track my son. It really hasn't. Granted, he's a bit of a homebody, but even then, unless he's given me a reason to not trust him, I'll trust him.
Yes, my daughter has Google Latitude on her phone, as do my husband and I. It's free and comes in handy sometimes, such as when I want to see how close she is to home without asking her. For instance, the other night we had a storm and the tornado sirens went off while our daughter was on her way home from a friend's house. Texting isn't always instantaneous on our network, and she forgets to turn up her ringer so she doesn't often know when her phone rings (I have the same problem). Latitude told me that she was a block and a half away.
Our daughter doesn't mind.
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For this reason (and that I'm cheap) our phones do not have GPS.
