Reply to Do you use trackers with your college kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My family shares our locations with each other on Google Maps because we don’t see it as a big deal. We’re a family.[/quote]

What does that have to do with it? Families have never tracked each other until a decade ago. [/quote]

I agree. Seriously messed up to think that putting trackers on each other is part of what being a family means.  [/quote]

It depends on why and how you use the tracker.  It can be a nice feature, if you are able to respect boundaries, use it infrequently and for an actual reason and your kids know the circumstances under which you would use it and your rationale.

For example, my kid drives 8 hours to and from college. Yes, it’s nice to keep an eye on his progress. He may be an adult, but he’s only been driving independently for three years and it’s not an easy drive (PA turnpike). When my kids were studying abroad— and especially in transit or traveling alone or with a friend on weekends/ break/ before and after the program— it was very nice to have. Especially because Find My Phone worked when texting was glitchy in areas without fantastic cell service.

And yes— sometimes it’s helpful to get an ETA. For example, my kid is home for the summer and was driving home from a friend's house (texts off in driving focus mode).  Our senior dog has a brain tumor and is failing and it’s best if someone is with her (she probably has less than a month left  :cry:).  This week DH and I were heading out and knew that a kid was incoming. Checking to get an ETA helped us decide whether to wait for the kid to get home and do a handoff vs setting the dog up in a safe area.  I don’t  see an issue with using tracking in that type of cases.

I’m not sure what you accomplish by daily checks when your kid is in college to see when your kid is in class, eating, in their dorm, in another dorm.  That crosses a line in my mind. Physically unsafe is not the same thing as making decisions (about class attendance, where to sleep, etc) that we disagree with.  I think it’s more appropriate if actual reason to be concerned for their safety and you can’t get them by text for some reason— see also, doing an 8 hour drive to school.  Or traveling with a friend in a country with crappy cell service/ texting.

One very nice feature. My kids can also track us.  Which means they can hit the “Find my phone button” and make one of our phones ring loudly until we wake up/grab them if there is an emergency and we are asleep or just aren’t checking texts. Both kids have had to use this feature, unfortunately. One had a minor emergency overseas and needed additional medical insurance info, 2am our time and then later had a flight cancelled a was having trouble rebooking. The other got in a situation where she got cornered in a stairwell by a guy who had been acting stalkery and felt physically unsafe.  She not harmed, thank goodness. But she woke us up because she was rattled needed reassurance and wanted advice on what to do. [/quote]

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