Parents Talk
Parents Talk: Should You Track Your Kids with GPS?
Phone apps and other GPS devices let parents—or schools—follow a child's every movement.
Is it OK for parents to use GPS devices or phone apps to track their children? Advice columnist Amy Dickinson told a father this month she adamantly opposes such tracking: I am completely, totally and utterly opposed to installing tracking or monitoring technology on kids' devices without their knowledge. ... You cannot use technology to mitigate the work (or risks) of parenting. ... You should confirm their whereabouts the old-fashioned way—by getting to know their friends, calling other parents to verify plans, and by driving them from place to place and occasionally showing up early. But another newspaper columnist wrote this week she found a way around her own initial concerns: We were initially apprehensive about doing this; we didn’t…
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Mike B.
11:03 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013
Parents who are tracking their kids by electronic devices should have their heads examined! This is parental harassment! Furthermore, the ACLU (which I normally do not agree with) should get involved on the kids' behalf. Even though they are kids, they have the right to be protected from paranoid parents, some of whom have posted above on this subject. Thank goodness I didn't have parents who … more ›