I would certainly ask my children for their permission. Not sure where you got this impression form. Nothing I wrote sounds like this.
I got it from the person who said parents use FMF on a daily basis and that he required his children to have it installed.
Asking my child to do something = A judge imposing a sentence on a criminal
Uh...yeah. Those are not even close to being the same thing.
So GPS-tracking and phone calls are identical in terms of surveillance in one case, but not the other?
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Again, nothing mentioned on my part about going out of your way to do something--in fact the opposite, using what's already available to you that isn't more disruptive than useful, even if it's not 100% useful for everything all the time. That's what retinal parents understand pretty much inherently.
Arguing that tracking your kids with GPS is okay when it's readily available but not when you have to purchase a device specifically made for it is very strange though. So parents with kids who have smartphones are irrational if they don't track their kids on a daily basis, whilst parents with kids who don't can skip it because all the safety arguments and so on somehow wouldn't apply to them?
What's retinal parents? As you've probably guessed, English isn't my mother tongue.
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You keep trying to push your "if it didn't exist" scenario too much to take seriously.
It is there on the phone that they want as a feature. I let my kids have this very expensive phone and part of that deal is so I can use the included feature.
If they were fine with a PanTech piece 'o' crap, I would call or text to see where they are...and if they didn't answer or respond in a decent amount of time, I would worry.
It makes me feel better...it is safer for them....they are kids....
I seriously get where you are coming from, but this is a tool that I (and a bunch of other parents on here) use because it is there and it is helpful...even with other adults in our families. I do not have the time or inclination to constantly spy on anyone whether or not they are in my family...and trying to paint this image of us sitting in a chair at home watching our kids' every move is ridiculous and unfair.
One guy said he used it daily to check up on the whereabouts of his kids, and another person said he didn't start preparing for dinner until he sees his wife leaving the office. They're the ones painting a picture of constant control.
As I said, having FMF activated is one thing - using it on a daily basis simply seems excessive unless you distrust your children.
The thought of activating it on my wife's iPhone hasn't even entered my mind.
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Parents force their kids to do stuff they don't want to do all of the time - it's called PARENTING. Otherwise, if kids only did what they wanted to do, anarchy would ensue. They are not old enough to make informed intelligent decisions, and they surely don't fully understand the ramifications of their actions. In that regard, it IS a trust issue. I DO NOT trust my kids to make the best decision all of the time, regardless of how smart, nice, kind and open they are. Therefore, I take actions to either prevent that from happening, or to help minimize the fallout afterwards. Having more information (i.e. knowing where they may be without having to ask them) is only a good thing. I'm sorry if you can't see that. I am over here shaking my head, wondering what your household is like as you obviously never made your kids do anything against their will. My household is NOT a democracy, and the kids surely don't run it. I'm not here to make the popular decisions.
This is my last post on this thread, as obviously we do not see eye to eye, nor are we going to be able to convince each other of the other's position. I bring my life experiences with me when making my parenting decisions, and what goes on in my household doesn't happen in yours. All I can say is that the FmF app is a great tool for parents to use in keeping track of their kids for a variety of reasons and I have value for the app, which was my response to a post near the beginning of this thread.
Not GPS-tracking teenagers on a daily basis is not the same as not imposing any rules, but watching kids like a hawk? Either you live in a far more dangerous community than I do, have far less trust in their ability to make the correct choices, or you simply don't see how controlling you actually are.
But hey, to each their own, I just find it odd that people think the default setting for parents of teens is to distrust them or have the need to check their exact location on a daily basis.
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Absolutely agree with every word you said.
I think hafr is a kid, not a parent .....
I think you're very narrow minded to assume only kids would see a problem with smacking a GPS-tracker on teens and use it on a daily basis.
