5 Benefits of Using MamaBear to Monitor Teen Driving

driving monitor app

We love it when we receive appreciation for providing a simple solution that allows parents to monitor teen habits and patterns. Teen driving is just one of many reasons parents consider device monitoring. We’ve compiled some of the top reasons families use the MamaBear app. In particular, here’s a short list of the benefits MamaBear families observe when using the app to monitor teen driving.

5. We’re worried

Parents are almost universally worried when our kids first take to the roads. We’re worried about their safety but also excited about the added freedom and responsibility that driving means. More than a few of us use the passenger seat floorboard as imaginary brakes while in the car with our kids, but realize we can’t always be there to pretend to slow down. MamaBear allows parents to monitor teen driving speed from anywhere, making the driving experience easier for both parents and teens.

4. It’s a Conversation Starter

Having information about your kid’s driving speed and whereabouts allows you to have important safety conversations. Using relevant situations about driving too fast can help you lay out the consequences of speeding – and we’re talking about the consequence of seriously hurting someone else or themselves. In addition, knowing where they visited can support discussions about dangerous destinations.

3. Eliminate Side Trips and Unapproved Trips

The GPS monitoring and location alert features of the MamaBear app helps parents monitor teen driving in ways we didn’t expect. Parents get alerts if the child goes to an un-approved location or leaves an approved location outside of the agreed upon schedule. Combined with speed alerts and GPS tracking features, this has helped quite a few MamaBear families know when the kids are taking an unauthorized spin.

2. The Kids Drive More Responsibly

When our kids know we care enough to monitor, they tend to behave a little better. We’ve found that kids drive quite a bit slower when they drive with a monitoring app on board. With the MamaBear app, teens know their parents will get an alert if they exceed a set speed. By combining speed alerts with GPS mapping, kids are typically more cautious behind the wheel.

1. We’re There in an Emergency.

MamaBear makes sure our kids can communicate quickly in the wake of an emergency. Even something as simple as a flat tire can be scary to a new driver. When there’s a fender bender, a flat or a break down, the whole family will be happy for the easy, one button communication MamaBear provides.

If you’re nervous about your teen driving, let the MamaBear app ease your worries.

Download the app for Android phones here.

Download the app for Iphones here. 

The MamaBear Family Monitoring App Can Help With Parental Anxiety About Teen Driving

anxiety about teen driving

It’s totally normal for parents to dread certain phases of their children’s development. It’s only normal that we fear letting our young ones out into the world and as they grow that anxiety can grow with the freedom our kids experience. A difficult and common one of these anxieties are when we first let our kids behind the wheel. The combination of an expensive automobile, a young and excited teenager, the very real risk of other drivers and a potential accident make us all understandably nervous about handing over the keys for the first time.

The good news is there are options to help significantly lower this anxiety. Options like the MamaBear family monitoring app can help ease parental anxiety when their teen is driving. The combination of MamaBear driving alerts, location alerts and nearly real time monitoring provides parents the ability to keep a much closer eye on a newly licensed teen. MamaBear lets parents know where they are going, and that they are obeying programmed speed limits.

The MamaBear location based alerts can inform a parent when their child is at a dangerous location or isn’t a place they are schedule to attend. This feature ensures that parents know their children are going to pre-approved locations. If a parent wants to monitor more frequently, active GPS monitoring can allow parents to watch an entire trip and confirm the kids are on route. Driving speed alerts give parents relevant information to talk to their children about vehicle responsibility and safe speed driving.

By providing parents with this nearly real-time data regarding location and vehicle speed, the MamaBear family monitoring app lets parents rest easy when the kids have the car. Many parents are reporting that the MamaBear app is facilitating conversations about car usage that they never expected to have. With MamaBear, a young driver can be trusted to run errands, help parents and even use the car for their own devices, all while allowing parents input and peace of mind about their teens’ driving habits.

The MamaBear app is available for download on Android devices here and Iphone devices here.

Happy New Year From MamaBear

Happy New Year from the MamaBear team! Well . . . do you have your New Year’s Resolutions planned?  They are so hard to stick to, right? It’s hard because it’s discipline. Ultimately, New Year’s resolutions are all about discipline and accountability. Working out when we say we’re going to work out. Skipping fries when we say we’re going to cut carbs. Consistency is hard to maintain with new habits. We’ve all broken a few resolutions here or there, and we all know how hard it can be to maintain constant discipline.

If we, as adults, have a hard time with discipline, it is no wonder that our kids battle with it just as much. It’s human nature to want to explore and push boundaries. I haven’t found a parent yet that says, “My kids do exactly what they are supposed to after being told just one time.” As many parents know, it’s about consistent reinforcement.

Obviously we feel that keeping a watchful eye on our children is a good idea – it’s why we created the MamaBear app in the first place. But remember, no one is perfect. Not us as parents and certainly not our children. If we can’t keep our own New Year’s resolutions every time, then maybe we can show some empathy when we feel overwhelmed by our words of repetitive discipline.

We encourage parents to use MamaBear as a tool to gather information. Information to have continued, relevant, consistent conversations about important issues like appropriate behavior on social media, why certain places are off limits and why accountability is important. It’s not hard to teach kids the importance of showing up for practice when they say they will. It just takes consistent reinforcement, even when a child strays a bit.

Going over the speed limit, visiting places we’d rather our kids not visit or perhaps taking a day off school without you knowing are ways boundaries could be tested. We all tested our boundaries growing up, now we have tools like MamaBear that give us vital information to talk about consequences. Tools to give our children consistent and empathetic dialog when they push against our boundaries in the New Year.  Make it a great 2013!

Restricted “Friends” via Social Media Tracking?

social media tracking

Restricted “friends” is a bit of an oxymoron, right? But, ask yourself or even your kids, how often are you “friends” with people online that you may not actually want to be friends with? Or try this scenario – your child is an actual friend with someone you may not have a great impression. With the MamaBear app, parents can be alerted when their children are interacting with friends or followers that they label as restricted on Facebook and Instagram. MamaBear also allows parents to monitor new friends and other interactions on social media sites – like photo uploads and tags. It gives parents a wide range of flexibility and insight to your children’s friends.

Here’s what the MamaBear social media tracking app offers parents when monitoring a child’s Facebook and Instagram accounts:

  • Receive alerts in real-time when the child adds a friend on Facebook or follows someone new on Instagram
  • Select restricted friends to be notified when that person posts on your child’s accounts
  • Know when your child is tagged in a photo, message or at a location on Facebook
  • Know when your child uploads a new photo on Instagram
  • Create a restricted words list to be aware of inappropriate language, indications of hate or bullying on your child’s accounts

We know how influential our kids’ friends are – good and bad. MamaBear gives parents a chance to observe online social interactions. Parents can track conversations, tags and mentions from restricted friends via social media. This knowledge can provide a relevant topic of discussion for parents and children about the personal influencers in our kid’s lives and the consequences of them.

Restricted friends may be an oxymoron, but ensuring our children are associating with the right people is just good parenting. MamaBear social media tracking allows parents to intervene in real time if a child makes contact or is contacted by “friend” you want to keep your eye on using social media. Check out the MamaBear social media monitoring feature on your Iphone or Android phone and let us know what you think.