Tracking your teenager

Redaction

Ok...my daughter is 16 almost 17 and is driving more and more. I want to track her whereabouts for my piece of mind and reassurance that she's ok. It scares the crap out of me that she's out there and I'm not there to show her the way or to protect her if she gets in trouble.

Just curious if any of you dads out there track their kids and what app or tracker you use.

Thanks

Bodine

Never tracked mine, they turned out fine.
You can not control them no matter how hard you try.
You have already laid the groundwork, let them be free.

hooknline

Life 360 app

Ynotjax

I have to agree with Bodine. It is all about trust.
Wife and I both agree by now at 16-17, and I have twin girls, you have to trust their decisions, soon they will be in college and Mommy and Dada have put values and have pointed out the good decisions and bad they made. Our goal is to make them fully functional adults, if you keep too tight of leash on them they may be crazy 20 year olds hiding things from you.
So far they communicate where they are, tell us happened where they went. We both agree spying does not show trust.
Good luck.

Oh by the way, what is the sticker shock on auto insurance....

hooknline

There are a lot of other reasons beside lack of trust to use a tracking app. Safety, timing, friendly reminders etc.

jcbcpa

Bodine wrote: »

Never tracked mine, they turned out fine.
You can not control them no matter how hard you try.
You have already laid the groundwork, let them be free.

Yep. Same here.

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greggl

hooknline wrote: »

There are a lot of other reasons beside lack of trust to use a tracking app. Safety, timing, friendly reminders etc.

... corporations and our government are already tracking them...

Klownfizh

greggl wrote: »

... corporations and our government are already tracking them...

Yep parents might as well do it also. It can't hurt.

greggl

Klownfizh wrote: »

Yep parents might as well do it also. It can't hurt.

it would suck to get access to the data, 'post mortem'

break em to the reality that it is ALL tracked.

Rollin

Bodine wrote: »

Never tracked mine, they turned out fine.
You can not control them no matter how hard you try.
You have already laid the groundwork, let them be free.

This is the way, toughen up a little bit and cut her some slack. If you've done a good job, she'll be ok and believe me we've all faced the same things.

Wildcard2950

I actually have a chips(zubie) in all my vehicles to track the driving habits of the drivers and location. Hoping to get a discount on my insurance, but it also tracks and alert you of hard braking and acceleration. Not to mention speed. My wife checks on the kids with find my Iphone.

Jack Hexter

I raised my kids when tracking was not an option. As others said, trust and the morals you have imparted to date are more important. When my daughter started to drive and asked for the car, I held mu breath when she drove out the drive until she returned.

Now you want panic, when my son turned 16 and started to drive, he came to me and said" Dad, can I borrow the boat tomorrow." Now the car and boat both disappear out the drive. That's panic

jad1097

Bodine wrote: »

Never tracked mine, they turned out fine.
You can not control them no matter how hard you try.
You have already laid the groundwork, let them be free.

ditto

doghouse1122

hooknline wrote: »

Life 360 app

This.

Parkerboy

I don't have any kids but I do have a chip placed in my pup. Seriously, I sure am happy that technology was not available when I was a teenager. There were times I was 300-400 miles from home when my parents thought I was at our lake cabin 30 miles from home.

hooknline

Parkerboy wrote: »

I don't have any kids but I do have a chip placed in my pup. Seriously, I sure am happy that technology was not available when I was a teenager. There were times I was 300-400 miles from home when my parents thought I was at our lake cabin 30 miles from home.

Case closed. Bet your parents raised you right with morals too. I know I wasn't the best kid no matter what my parents tried to teach me

mplspug

I wouldn't use an app for tracking , but as a safety measure. I know if my daughter was supposed to be home at 10 and it's 11 and she's not responding to texts, I'd want that. Although the problem with an app is her phone could be dead or tossed.

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hooknline

Life 360 gives you real time movement, history, and such in a map form. Pretty good. Especially when your kid is fishing an area that doesn't have good cell signal but you can see he hasn't left the area. Alleviated some concern when they are running behind. Which they always are.

bigoldredfish

hooknline wrote: »

Life 360 app

Is what I use for mine as well - we have it so that the kids can see us and we can see them - it is useful for more then just seeing where someone is / has been.

It's helped us track down our misplaced cell phones.

it's helped with the "can you pick me up" and they are unsure exactly where they are calls - mostly for my sons and their friends whem they get turned around fishing canals and urban fishing.

gives you time to information, so you can look and see your kids location and based on your location it'll show how many minutes away they are and vice-versa.

Free version gives you history of today's and yesterday's travels and times.

We use it for safety - no interest in spying on them

Madbeach

Ankle bracelet GPS unit. :shrug

mplspug

hooknline wrote: »

Life 360 gives you real time movement, history, and such in a map form. Pretty good. Especially when your kid is fishing an area that doesn't have good cell signal but you can see he hasn't left the area. Alleviated some concern when they are running behind. Which they always are.

One last cast....

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Soda Popinski

Every kid is different. I never needed to track my daughter. I was a teenager once, I know what kids go out and do. We gave our children all the attention they needed when they were young, and when they got older, they didn't need to go looking for it from some scumbag.

OP do what you think is right, but remember they are what you created. If they are not turning out the way you want, there's really no one else to blame. The cell phone is for safety purposes, and 20 years ago somehow kids survived without those too. Parents just had to trust their kids. I know I wasn't always truthful about where I was or what i as doing and i expect my daughter wasn't either. That's just part of growing up.

Trust that you did a good job and that they will make good decisions. That's really all you can do with a 17yr old, they're going to do what they want to do trust me. We always found a way.

1outlaw

I thank god each and everyday that the thought of tracking my sons never crossed my mind.
They earned every bit of the responsibility the received, i would give them more and more as they got older just to see if they would hang themselves. Couple of issues there senior year but i considered them learning experiences. Maybe been different if i had daughters?

A option i had to use once... AT&T does have a option of phone tracking (not find my phone). Its a extra monthly charge... 1 of the GF decided to run off with my sons phone while out of state. I had to use that service to retrieve her and the phone.

micci_man

we don't track our 17 and 19 yo girls. We raised them to always be aware of their surroundings and taught right from wrong. Another thing we hammered into them is they don't need to depend on anyone including men. Both are doing well. I will say it was nerve racking when they started driving but I got over that. they let us know when they get to their destination and such.

Polar

I honestly dont want to track any of my kids

fishdish

micci_man wrote: »

we don't track our 17 and 19 yo girls. We raised them to always be aware of their surroundings and taught right from wrong. Another thing we hammered into them is they don't need to depend on anyone including men. Both are doing well. I will say it was nerve racking when they started driving but I got over that. they let us know when they get to their destination and such.

That's how I am raising my girls but when they get old enough to drive and go out on their own I will be one anxious MoFo. Hard not to be protective of daughters. At the end of the day trust and communication are the key to any relationship. Good luck regardless of which route you choose.

gandrfab

i don't track my girls, one is driving now and enjoying the new found freedom very much.
We got smart ones so far.

Griz

If you have an IPhone there's the Find Friends app. It does require a phone or Ipad that has accepted your invitation. I use mainly when try to meet up with the family on the road so I know about how far away they are.

I also use it for peace of mind if wife is on the road traveling by herself.

Firmanjax

If they have an iphone download the find my friends app. You sign in with itunes and they give you permission to locate them. I say trust but verify. Its come in handy several times when they needed something but did not know anything about where they were at. I could find them and then tell them what was nearby. if they break down you can see where they are. Mine know I can locate them. Its one of the rules for me paying for their phones.

gandrfab

I don't like the GPS turned on, on the phone. Makes it easier to hack location.
I only turn my phone gps on when I need a map.

greggl

gandrfab wrote: »

I don't like the GPS turned on, on the phone. Makes it easier to hack location.
I only turn my phone gps on when I need a map.

turning the phone on is what gives away location