help with iPhone app keeping track of kids

[descovy]

Why not ask husband to shoot you text when he is leaving work, or when you get there?

It just scream insecurity or control to me.

What if it bothers your daughter to the point she leaves her phone where she says she is going and forwards her calls to her friends phones when they are someplace else. The app would be no good then.

You never lied to your parents????? You really think your children will never lie to you????

So... lets just throw all rules out the window, because a kid might break them? Kid might lie to me so I may as well not even ask them where they are going? Or check their location? May as well let them drink/smoke/drug... because what the hell? Can't stop them?

I have lied to my parents, but I can honestly say I never lied about where I was going. Honest to God, I just told them where I was going. I guess I was boring enough to stay out of serious trouble.

But if I catch my kid doing something wrong, either through an app on their phone or some other way, yes they will be punished. No, an app isn't going to be foolproof in keeping a kid from doing the wrong thing. That isn't the point. If my kid has to sneak around /forward calls/leaves her phone/ I have bigger parenting issues than an iPhone app can solve. And they will probably loose the rights & privileges& Freedoms that come with having an iPhone, a car to drive, or permission to leave the house.

 

[WVMomof3]

So you trust your child to drive a car, but you don't trust her to be where she says she is going to be?

How did our parents ever survive not knowing where we were every second of the day?

FTR, no, I don't track/stalk my children or my husband on their iphones (17 and 13).

I love Find Friends and wonder how parents survived back in the day without it! I don't use it because I don't trust her, it is for my piece of mind to let me know she got to where she was going safely. She is supposed to text when she gets there, but sometimes "remembers" an hour later. As a new driver, she has called to tell me she was lost, I was able to Find her and tell her which way to go. She has only done that once, when late for practice. She has gotten lost more than once and was able to eventually figure out where she was. She is very directionally challenged! The reason I got it in the first place was for when she rode the bus home from Cross Country/Track meets. Before I had it, I had waited at the school for up to an hour, because that was the time the coaches said they would be back. Now I frequently arrive at same time as buses because I can track her and no more waiting for me! Their meets are often 2 hours away.

I also have it on my husband (and he on me). He frequently works late and helps me to know if he has left work which helps me plan dinner time. Doesn't bother him. It would bother him if he had to text me everyday that he was leaving work. Don't use it everyday, just occasionally when it helps me out with timing.

My dad even has it on me (and me on him) and I am over 40! Doesn't bother me at all. I originally got it on him when he was travelling across country, also piece of mind for me, just to check up on him and follow him on his trip. Did backfire on me once when it said he was at a hospital. I texted to make sure everything was ok and he said they were just getting icecream at a place next to the hospital.

BTW, for Find Friends you do have to have separate Apple IDs. Find my Phone works if you have the same Apple ID.

 

[kymom99]

Funny but true story: After we got our iphones, my husband was playing around and tried out the find my iphone on me. I was at work. I got home and he asked if I had to leave work for a meeting or something, which I didn't. He said the app showed me at the Wildwood Inn!

So it isn't 100% accurate, but can give you a good idea as to where someone is.

 

[monorailsilver]

We used find my iPhone. We are all on the same iTunes account so it made it easier.

We are all on the same account so it makes life easier.

I told my daughter she has to keep it on at all times. She is 13! Obviously she is where she is supposed to be all the time.

I have used it to see where the sports bus is so I don't have to wait at school for an extra 15 minutes (we are 5 min from school).

I will use it on my dh to see where he is. We are hands free in CT so he can use the voice text but it's just easier. And he tracks me too.

I want to say it keeps me from binging at fast food because he can easily check and see that I was at Wendy's! So not only is it a locator it's a diet aid too!

Oh and my kids will claim they don't know where their phone/iPod/iPad is but then we send out the tones and wow, it's under their pillow!

To a previous poster, I love the idea of sending that annoying signal off when your child doesn't text back!

 

[my3sons77]

We, too, use Find My Friends. I can find out where my husband is, my 15 yr old, my 14 yr old, and my dad who lives in NC. I also have it on my 8 yr old iPod. When he loses it, I can sorta pin point it on where it could possibly be in the house.

We all love it. This is what we like to use as a family.

 

[drcmk]

If I didn't trust my kid I wouldn't have let her drive my vehicle or go out. No need to make this into something it isn't.

Learning to drive is a process. Someone who passes the drivers exam test does not automatically, immediately know how to navigate real roads. This seems like a reasonable tool to support a novice driver. I don't think anyone said that they were going to be sneaky or secretive about using it.

 

[wenrob]

Learning to drive is a process. Someone who passes the drivers exam test does not automatically, immediately know how to navigate real roads. This seems like a reasonable tool to support a novice driver. I don't think anyone said that they were going to be sneaky or secretive about using it.

Which is what my reply was about. The poster I quoted *did* imply that it was sneaky. I was saying it's helpful for nervous parents in the same post you clipped and quoted.

If you read to OP the subject was for a NEW driver, meaning very nervous moms. It isn't about *where* they are or trust it is about making sure they got there safely, nothing more. If I didn't trust my kid I wouldn't have let her drive my vehicle or go out. No need to make this into something it isn't.