Tracking your child’s location can be rather convenient for parents, as we now live in a world much more complex than when the parents grew up. Children don’t run off to play in the local community and return home at dusk for dinner. Our current times are full of technology and children spending time in front of computer or smartphone screens.
In fact, parents nowadays have no real way to track their children’s whereabouts. Parents can’t poke their heads out the door and yell to their children and hear a response. Those days are long gone for many around the world.
On the flip side, however, with the development of technology and the prevalence of smartphones, there are many location tracker apps available on the app stores. That’s why more parents have started to opt to track their children with location sharing apps.
Before you rush to download the first family tracking app on the app store, you should consider whether a location tracking app is something that would be a good fit for your family and your style of parenting. The below discussion will give you a better understanding of location tracking apps and how this can be a positive choice to make for your family.
Why do parents track their children?
Most parents use a family tracking app to monitor where their children are. Having a location tracker app installed can give some peace of mind to parents of teens who are out driving on the roads, working a job, or have a busy social life. It also works great for younger aged children who may take the school bus or carpool to and from school.
Another typical reason a parent opts to track their children is to ensure there’s a safety net for serious emergency situations. This safety net is essentially the ability to tell where your children are so that if something bad happens they can easily inform authorities of the child’s last known location.
Pros of Tracking Your Children
There are many pros and cons for parents to track their children. Below are some of the pros for opting to install a family tracking app.
Comfort
Knowing where your child is will lend you some comfort You’ll build trust with your child as you start to see that they are where they say they’re going, while be at peace knowing that you’d be the first to know if they stray and end up at a potentially dangerous place.
This can also lend peace of mind to children who may be anxious about their parents being gone on vacation or late hours at work. Parents can share their location with your children too with a family location tracking app. This can help the whole family feel comfortable and safer in everyday life.
Convenience
How many parents have sent texts asking where their children are? How many parents have subsequently called them after they don’t answer? Sharing each other’s location can save family members the hassle of having to try to obtain an answer from each other about their whereabouts.
Beyond simply checking their locations, family location apps like iSharing allows users to set up alerts for when family members arrive at work or leave home for school. Such features can make it easy for parents to know that their children arrived home from soccer practice, as well as the kids asking for takeaway when their parents leave work.
Confidence
If your child suffers from anxiety, they may feel more confident to head out into the world knowing their parents can see their whereabouts. This helps increase your child’s self-esteem and confidence because they’ll know that they always have someone reliable keeping a close eye on them. Most family tracking apps also offer an emergency button that will immediately notify parents when the child presses it.
Cons of Tracking Your Children
There are a few cons to consider before opting to install a family tracking app for your children. Below are a few cons that we feel you should consider before making a choice.
Privacy and Personal Data
You could be putting your child’s privacy in the hands of the service provider that you’re using for family location tracking. Be sure to read the terms of use and service for the app before installing it. This will help you understand how the service provider utilizes the information that they collect behind the scenes.
Distrust (which can be resolved with communication)
Sometimes tracking them could lead your children to feel less trusted or even spied on, if they’re in their kids. This is quite common and often a cause for delay in parents choosing to install a family location tracker. However, you can resolve this concern with a family meeting.
Before you install a location tracker app you need to discuss this with your children. Discuss this option with your child, listen to their feelings on the subject, and make a decision that will improve your relationship with your children. Help them understand that installing a family tracker app is to ensure their safety, not to limit their autonomy.
Children feel more confident when they have a solid foundation of trust with their parents. Open communication and appropriate usage of a location tracking app will ultimately strengthen relationships between parents and the children.
