There’s a lot of discussion lately about whether or not it’s ok to track your kid’s cell phone. Parents grapple with what’s enough, and when’ve we gone too far when it comes to our kids. I spend a fair amount of time talking to parents on both sides of this conversation. As parents, we know our kids aren’t going to accept every measure we use to protect them with the same love we feel when enforcing certain boundaries. At MamaBear, we know the decision to track your kids cell phone isn’t one parents take lightly with many reasons behind the decision. It could be purely safety, some accountability and opportunity to have real life cases to discuss with our children.
Knowing where our children are, and their social media behavior is our responsibility as parents and present riskier long-term consequences for kids in today’s tech world. So many parents find the best solution to giving a child the responsibility of having a smartphone to be a tracking app. Basically, tracking a phone is tracking a child – do you know a kid with a smartphone that goes too long without it? And parents that want to track their child, are well within their rights. Smartphones are not cheap, especially brand new ones. Buying a child the equivalent to a small personal computer can mean a pretty significant investment. Using a parental tracking app like MamaBear to monitor your child’s smartphone represents money well spent.
Child acceptance of a tracking app begins best with a straightforward conversation. Explaining up front that you intend to monitor your kid’s cell phone is a great way to make them understand the responsibility that comes with owning such an information accessible device. We give them the freedom to use a smartphone, participate on social media and hang out at locations within limits, but with any life experience, we want comfort knowing we’ve shared potential risks and outcomes with our children as they make choices. Having additional insight to our children’s daily lives provides for more relevant conversations with our children. Technologies, like the MamaBear app for Android and iPhones represent an easy, effective, time-saving way to achieve this.
At MamaBear, we know the goal when you track your kids cell phone is not spying. It’s about keeping our children safe. The MamaBear child tracking app gives parents as much, or as little, information they need to feel their child is safe. This can give our children the freedom they need to grow while giving us some security.
