My kids tracking me could be useful some day. They won't have to visit me to find out if I'm still in the nursing home. We'll see if I'm smart enough to leave my phone behind when I escape.
My husband is a retired policeman. Our granddaughters are sometimes required to send a picture that shows proof of life when they have gone out. It may be a picture of a store in the mall or a restaurant where they are with friends. Their Mom May text them and tell them to take a picture of themselves in front of something. We each have a code word we use at the end of our text that has nothing to do with what is said in the text. If we don’t use it we get another text back or phone call checking on us.
My mom and I never had the tracking apps together so whenever I left my parents' house to come back home she always told me to text her when I got home. For the most part I never forgot but there was one time and she was definitely worried about me.
My husband and I used to use the tracking app a lot when we worked in offices. I would always be the one that tracked him so I knew when to start dinner. Now if we go on trips without each other, very rare, we are able to track how each other are doing so we don't get worried they are broken down somewhere.
Despite being a huge fan of new technologies and living with them around as a "digital native", I hate feeling permanently suprevised by the higher powers having access to and checking my location tracking, grades and notes in the e-gradebook that was crawling some years after I started school, digital transactions, e-administration and workflow of government documents legal via Act on Electronic Delivery. Hard to keep anything away in private from those in charge these times. But the reality that most of the aforementioned is already known to the "Big Brother" makes me feel a little bit less guilty while sharing online the stories and pics from my life.
I don't recall anybody in my family sharing locations or tracking others through it. I did that only for a year on Snapchat, before I figured out I don't want all my peers to know where I am. I use Google Maps timeline, but only for myself and try fooling it by adding to my days points that are somewhat elsewhere than in reality. Which is why Google thinks I live in an abandonned cottage hundred meters downhill. Ever since I got my phone, my parents trusted me enough not to install parental control or tracking, as they believed I'm gonna call only when there's emergency, and even if I'd wander somewhere and get lost, it would be a great step towards becoming responsible. Same story for my brothers. The only time we used tracking was at home when everybody had Iphones and one had disappeared (usually we search for lost phones by calling or looking in typical or recent places they were left in). But I have to admit sharing/tracking location would save me and others time and efforts on these few times I got lost while skiing (the worst was the embarrassment I felt asking to and hearing from ski lift speakers that a kid named [me] got lost and is waiting in the upper end).
Having set the policy, it's no strange we call or text each other to know where others are and how much time we have upon their return home. So are doing my cousins, but they have more tact. We simply ask where you are and when you should be home, whereas they often throw a question where some kitchen supplies are, because they'd like to make a cake or something. But rarely are they cooking - it's for them mainly a way of getting to know how much time they have to hide the evidence of their mischief/lazyness. Telling/texting location instead of sharing it in the app serves us also as a way of developing our topographic imagination, in case we have paper or no maps to look at. The ancient forms of shouting and phone calling are present, especially when someone's working in the scarp garden or on headphones.
As much as it's useful, taking my phone outside is a necessity. The only times I leave it behind at home is on visits at my cousins nearby and each Sunday while going to the church.
The Google Maps timeline is interesting. It made me realize I move back and forth in the same geographic fish bowl. Good for you for fooling it with distant data. That keeps life exciting.
I feel your pain. When my eldest was younger, he liked to run point for us in our outings. One time he ran ahead at Rock City in East Tennessee. He was lost for 45 minutes. Another time he was lost for 30 minutes at the top of Stone Mountain. Talk about anxiety, I thought he fell off. Another time, he wandered off in the mall. We found him hiding inside one of those round clothes racks. Those heart attack inducing events, decreased ten-fold when he got a phone and actually carried it with him.
Hiding inside clothes racks is a childhood classic. Luckily, my kids have never tried it on me, mostly because I seldom take them shopping. Hurray for online retail!
I had a similar phase of proneness to getting lost, mainly on ski slopes or in museums. Getting my phone helped in being found faster and being less likely to separate from the group.
We use the Apple native app, which functions similarly. My teens HATE that their father is constantly stalking them. But the deal was, they get the phones, but until they are 18 (at least) we have rights to them. I only look if I’m trying to figure out who’s close enough to be home for dinner. Sometimes the kids like it though - if they are at a friend’s and want to be picked up, they’ll just say “find where I am and come get me!”
I'm not surprised the stars aligned and circumstances allowed Waffle to defy the modern technology and watch YT or sleep wherever she wants at any time. Her e-devices history reminds me of my youngest brother's. The first two things few-year-old Ignac was using were two family tablets that were Wi-Fi only, which he often took and hid with in some deep corner of the house like closet or wardrobe (especially when he was grounded) to play his favourite game Angry Birds Go! (or, as he pronounced it like this: "an-gree bear-dz g-oh"/but Poles woud write his words as "engri berdz goł". I remember when Ignac wanted to download that game on the second table, he tried it in the latter polish way and asked me how to insert the diacritic "ł" as he was convinced the game was called the way he was speaking its name). Many times he had fallen asleep while playing or watching, making himself hard to find.
When we first got the tracker app I would send a location everywhere we went. That got old. My hubby likes to troll the adult and not in our house kids and then complain about how often they go out. I usually take a quick peek to see if they are home before I (horrors!) CALL them
In this crazy and dangerous world of today, I don't think you need a reason to track your family....it is necessary. That being said, we don't track. I do wish that had been available back when our kids were still at home or at college, tho. That would have saved a lot of worries. MrP wouldn't like it because he's a free spirit, and like Jeffy in the Family Circle cartoon, he tends to go in a circuitus route to any place he goes.
I never thought I'd be in favor of it, but having tried it, I'm in love with the feature. It might be entertaining to track MrP to see how far and meandering his path really is. At least get him a step counter.
My youngest used to sleep under his bed, but before I figured that out, we almost ended up calling the police to find him, because he also apparently can not hear when he is sleeping. Dogs 3 streets over were barking from me yelling, but he slept right through it. Oh to be young again
My kids, in their 20's and I share locations.
I'm figuring out they are tracking ME, more than I'm tracking them!
I don't think tracking was around when they were younger, when I really needed it, for my younger son, who wanted independence at 5 y. o.!!
My kids tracking me could be useful some day. They won't have to visit me to find out if I'm still in the nursing home. We'll see if I'm smart enough to leave my phone behind when I escape.
Too funny and they will be happy when I'm in one spot!
My husband is a retired policeman. Our granddaughters are sometimes required to send a picture that shows proof of life when they have gone out. It may be a picture of a store in the mall or a restaurant where they are with friends. Their Mom May text them and tell them to take a picture of themselves in front of something. We each have a code word we use at the end of our text that has nothing to do with what is said in the text. If we don’t use it we get another text back or phone call checking on us.
Your granddaughters are well taken care of. That's a great support network.
Back in the old days, my mom would tell me ‘call me when you get there. And use their house phone’ or the famous, ‘tell her mom to call me’
It was a whole different world back then.
My mom and I never had the tracking apps together so whenever I left my parents' house to come back home she always told me to text her when I got home. For the most part I never forgot but there was one time and she was definitely worried about me.
Guess that beats my Uncle who used to send a patrol car to find his daughter making out in the park LOL Glad he wasn't my dad
My husband and I used to use the tracking app a lot when we worked in offices. I would always be the one that tracked him so I knew when to start dinner. Now if we go on trips without each other, very rare, we are able to track how each other are doing so we don't get worried they are broken down somewhere.
It's nice to be able to see where someone is without pestering them for updates. Having dinner ready exactly on time is just a bonus.
“My life is full of thrills”.
Your family is thrilling. Thanks for sharing the thrill of your lifetime with all of us. I really enjoyed this one.
We all have trackers on our phones so when we leave the state on a trip our adult children can see where we are at.
My sisters do this when driving home to visit my parents. That way no one is worried they're broken down on the side of the road.
Despite being a huge fan of new technologies and living with them around as a "digital native", I hate feeling permanently suprevised by the higher powers having access to and checking my location tracking, grades and notes in the e-gradebook that was crawling some years after I started school, digital transactions, e-administration and workflow of government documents legal via Act on Electronic Delivery. Hard to keep anything away in private from those in charge these times. But the reality that most of the aforementioned is already known to the "Big Brother" makes me feel a little bit less guilty while sharing online the stories and pics from my life.
I don't recall anybody in my family sharing locations or tracking others through it. I did that only for a year on Snapchat, before I figured out I don't want all my peers to know where I am. I use Google Maps timeline, but only for myself and try fooling it by adding to my days points that are somewhat elsewhere than in reality. Which is why Google thinks I live in an abandonned cottage hundred meters downhill. Ever since I got my phone, my parents trusted me enough not to install parental control or tracking, as they believed I'm gonna call only when there's emergency, and even if I'd wander somewhere and get lost, it would be a great step towards becoming responsible. Same story for my brothers. The only time we used tracking was at home when everybody had Iphones and one had disappeared (usually we search for lost phones by calling or looking in typical or recent places they were left in). But I have to admit sharing/tracking location would save me and others time and efforts on these few times I got lost while skiing (the worst was the embarrassment I felt asking to and hearing from ski lift speakers that a kid named [me] got lost and is waiting in the upper end).
Having set the policy, it's no strange we call or text each other to know where others are and how much time we have upon their return home. So are doing my cousins, but they have more tact. We simply ask where you are and when you should be home, whereas they often throw a question where some kitchen supplies are, because they'd like to make a cake or something. But rarely are they cooking - it's for them mainly a way of getting to know how much time they have to hide the evidence of their mischief/lazyness. Telling/texting location instead of sharing it in the app serves us also as a way of developing our topographic imagination, in case we have paper or no maps to look at. The ancient forms of shouting and phone calling are present, especially when someone's working in the scarp garden or on headphones.
As much as it's useful, taking my phone outside is a necessity. The only times I leave it behind at home is on visits at my cousins nearby and each Sunday while going to the church.
The Google Maps timeline is interesting. It made me realize I move back and forth in the same geographic fish bowl. Good for you for fooling it with distant data. That keeps life exciting.
I feel your pain. When my eldest was younger, he liked to run point for us in our outings. One time he ran ahead at Rock City in East Tennessee. He was lost for 45 minutes. Another time he was lost for 30 minutes at the top of Stone Mountain. Talk about anxiety, I thought he fell off. Another time, he wandered off in the mall. We found him hiding inside one of those round clothes racks. Those heart attack inducing events, decreased ten-fold when he got a phone and actually carried it with him.
Hiding inside clothes racks is a childhood classic. Luckily, my kids have never tried it on me, mostly because I seldom take them shopping. Hurray for online retail!
I had a similar phase of proneness to getting lost, mainly on ski slopes or in museums. Getting my phone helped in being found faster and being less likely to separate from the group.
I usually don't take my phone anywhere, it drives my kids and hubby crazy, which is exactly why I do it LOL
I am surprised that Waffle doesn’t have to always wear a gps wristwatch like so many kids nowadays
The price is deal breaker, mainly because Waffle is a stuff breaker. I'd have a heart attack if she destroyed or lost a $200 watch.
We use the Apple native app, which functions similarly. My teens HATE that their father is constantly stalking them. But the deal was, they get the phones, but until they are 18 (at least) we have rights to them. I only look if I’m trying to figure out who’s close enough to be home for dinner. Sometimes the kids like it though - if they are at a friend’s and want to be picked up, they’ll just say “find where I am and come get me!”
Finding kids at friends house is a nice feature. My daughters never know their friends addresses. The tracking apps are a gamechanger.
I'm not surprised the stars aligned and circumstances allowed Waffle to defy the modern technology and watch YT or sleep wherever she wants at any time. Her e-devices history reminds me of my youngest brother's. The first two things few-year-old Ignac was using were two family tablets that were Wi-Fi only, which he often took and hid with in some deep corner of the house like closet or wardrobe (especially when he was grounded) to play his favourite game Angry Birds Go! (or, as he pronounced it like this: "an-gree bear-dz g-oh"/but Poles woud write his words as "engri berdz goł". I remember when Ignac wanted to download that game on the second table, he tried it in the latter polish way and asked me how to insert the diacritic "ł" as he was convinced the game was called the way he was speaking its name). Many times he had fallen asleep while playing or watching, making himself hard to find.
When we first got the tracker app I would send a location everywhere we went. That got old. My hubby likes to troll the adult and not in our house kids and then complain about how often they go out. I usually take a quick peek to see if they are home before I (horrors!) CALL them
Clever! The kids can't claim they weren't home when you called. They'll have to default to the next excuse and pretend they were asleep.
In this crazy and dangerous world of today, I don't think you need a reason to track your family....it is necessary. That being said, we don't track. I do wish that had been available back when our kids were still at home or at college, tho. That would have saved a lot of worries. MrP wouldn't like it because he's a free spirit, and like Jeffy in the Family Circle cartoon, he tends to go in a circuitus route to any place he goes.
I never thought I'd be in favor of it, but having tried it, I'm in love with the feature. It might be entertaining to track MrP to see how far and meandering his path really is. At least get him a step counter.
My youngest used to sleep under his bed, but before I figured that out, we almost ended up calling the police to find him, because he also apparently can not hear when he is sleeping. Dogs 3 streets over were barking from me yelling, but he slept right through it. Oh to be young again