familymap, gps kid tracking, location tracking

Photo from AT&T

I just got a new cell phone and was reading about the services that allow parents to locate your kids via GPS on his or her cell phone.

That's right — everywhere your teen goes, you can watch them go.

I always say that if I'd had a cell phone as a teenager, I'd have gotten into even more trouble. I mean, you'd never miss a thing, right? You'd always be able to find the party. Instead, my friends and I spent many nights driving aimlessly or heading home because we couldn't find the fun.

Now parents can track their kids location in real time via their cell phones. Verizon's Chaperone allows you to set up zones and the service will alert your if your child moves outside those zones. Through AT&T's FamilyMap, you can set up a Schedule Check to automatically get a text message or email, say, when your child arrives home from school. These services can be a pricey addition atop the cell phone service but might be worth it to some parents. Of course, it only works if your kids takes the cell phone, instead of simply leaving it where he or she is supposed to be.

I try to imagine what would have gone through my parents' minds if they'd have been able to see where we were really going half the time. Sure, sometimes it was just innocent teenage boredom, but other times, we really were up to no good. Their heads might have exploded when we were doing "donut" spins in the empty Home Depot parking lot or OOPS, that time we drove the car through the high school hallways. But then again, we probably should have been stopped, right?

Ultimately, parents might want to subscribe to such a service for safety sake. However, what they might really see when their "teens be teens" might make them unnecessarily insane.

What do you think about the GPS tracking services? Do you have it or would you get it? Why or why not?

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