Tracker for High School child

[nosmartphone]

Hi After some recommendations.

As username suggests, DD does not have a smartphone for high school. She has a new NOKIA which she can make free calls and free texts unlimited on. Sensible child and she's happy with this. Phones are banned in school anyway.

However, I could do with some sort of way of tracking her if for whatever reason she doesn't come out on time/phone dies etc (doubt it as it's got 5 days battery life!) Her school is 9 miles away, not on a bus route so I have to collect/drop off but also have another child 3 miles from that school to collect after her.

Her phone will not take apps so the likes of Life 360 not an option.

I have an android phone so can't so Apple Tags.

Is there anything suitable for android that works in the same way? I've had a quick google but can't work out whether the tags would work out and about or they're only suitable for finding your car keys in the house!

Any recommendations would be appreciated thank you.

That's intense. She can call if there's an issue, she's sensible so will wait for you. I don't get it.

Lol people are going on like the parent is sat watching every movement their child or teenager is making, my nearly 15 year old insists on me being able to see where she is and that's fine by me but I very rarely have a look unless she was meant to be home by now but isn't yet. It's surely just a level of safety that is available these days so what's the big deal. I'm not a controlling or intrusive parent and I think most people use it because it's easier to have a quick look rather than texting back and forth to see where they are, yeah it wasn't a thing when I was a teenager but neither was Netflix or online shopping lol but I'm glad to see that nobody is overreacting and getting on their high horse about it 🤨

@titchy
That's the Scottish guidelines, maybe not elsewhere

This ! It's an alternative reality around here. Absolutely fine and sensible to track your child and to know where they are . One of the advantages of modern technology, why not use it ?

I was wondering about the bus situation as well.
Presume she is out of catchment or some such so doesn't qualify.

I think you have to let her get on with it. And as per PP tell her to wait at school until you are there. Or a local library or some such place if she doesn't want to loiter outside the school gates.

One thing nobody has ever been able to explain on threads like this is why and how it makes kids safer to be tracked.

One of my children liked to ride out alone and we agreed, so long as she had a tracker for that specific activity because there was a small possibility that she might fall and be knocked out so we would know where to look if the pony came home without her. There's another mumsnetter whose kids mountain biked and they were tracked for the same reason. But for most kids in the course of their daily life-just how does it make them safer?

"The nearest school" that's the point lots of children don't go to their nearest school mine dont because the one further out is better for him

The word 'tracking' is giving controlling connotations IMO.

Location sharing is what DH and I do.
It is totally agreeable to us, there are no trust issues whatsoever.

Its especially useful when him/me needs picking up as I know exactly where to drive.
It really is not controlling in our case.

Most families I know location share with their under 18's.

I’d have no problem with using a tracker in your situation and I’d go with one of the options which work with android.

However, I believe the tags work by using Bluetooth to connect to nearby devices. If she is on her own with a non-smart phone on a country lane, it won’t work. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one as it has other uses, but you just need to be aware of its limitations.

In addition to the tracker, I would agree a pick up plan with both of your DC or you’ll find yourself driving anxiously round country lanes in a hurry. So explain to DD that she needs to leave school and come to your pick up point straight away. Tell the school this too and ask that if they keep her behind for any reason, they call you to let you know. Tell DD that if you’re running late and not there, just to wait and not set off down country lanes. Do the same for your other DC and their school too.

My teen has a slim credit card style tile in their wallet.

It is generally useful for pinpointing where they are if needed but not wholly entirely reliable as the tile needs another nearby tile to ping off to share and report location. Having said that we think it's very useful and non intrusive.

Life lesson 101: How to ruin your relationship with your children.

You can put software into a smartphone which is linked to your phone and requires your permissions on to download any apps so no search engine or social media etc. It might be useful for your daughter to have Whatsapp as if there is no phone signal there may be mobile data signal. You could also then track location.

Given all the mischief and fun I got up to as a kid, I would have hated being tracked!

OP, I completely understand the reasons why you've chosen to get a "dumb" phone. Just curious though, at what age will you let her have a smart phone? Whilst she might accept the Nokia now, fast forward a couple of years and she's likely to be pissed off with it. I do worry about my daughter's phone use but at the same time I can't help feeling sorry for the kids who have a Nokia whilst their mates have smartphones. I wonder if it's better to educate them on the dangers and teach them how to use their gadgets sensibly. All the bad stuff on smartphones can also be accessed on tablets.

All the bad stuff on smartphones can also be accessed on tablets.
and also, more likely, on their friends' or classmates' phones, over which you have no control. If you delay the conversations because you've given your child a dumb phone for now, they also won't be equipped to deal with what they come across elsewhere.

Why ? Mine 11 and 13 have no problem with sharing location and understand why. Probably helped by the fact all of their friends have the same with their parents. Another world on here sometimes .

Once again-nobody explaining how it makes them safer....

It doesn't all it does is means they know Big Brother is watching you. However as with trackers on phones it only shows where the tracked device is - not where the kid is.
A kid is even more likely to 'lose' a tracker than they are to lost their phone

@SallyWD exactly all the bad stuff can be accessed on tablets and via laptops.

MN can be a really funny place. People get all up in arms about the word 'phone'.

I've even seen comments like get them an 'iPod touch' instead which us essentially a phone / pocket sized tablet.

It's the other stuff too, how long can you hold off before teens want access to music, Spotify, YT Music, Deezer, etc etc.

I quite like having a tracker on my phone with family members. I often see my mum of a Sunday afternoon at a local pub she sometimes has lunch at and send her "👀" or "🤔" as a joke!

I've made a conscious decision not to use location trackers with my kids. It's because I want to incrementally work on them making smart decisions without my input, and also incrementally getting myself used to that. I have a similar approach to phone monitoring: I have limited controls because my focus is on equipping them with the tools they need. Ultimately at some point the controls get taken away and even now, if they actually want to circumvent them it's pretty easy.

This absolutely is taking a risk though and yes it means if my kids have an accident whilst I'm not around it could take a while to locate them. So OP if your DD wants you to be able to track her at 11, then go for it - she's still young and there's no one way to bring up kids. You do need to make sure you keep an eye on how much she is reliant on this though, particularly as she gets older. Kids need to be put into scenarios where they have to make decisions on their own, and to learn from mistakes caused by wrong decisions. Clearly by 25 you won't be tracking her, she won't be relying on you knowing where she is in an emergency and it might be hours (or days) before you know about an accident. How you get from what works at 11 to what works at 25 is the difficult bit and no parent has it fully figured out!

Even the idea of a kid having an accident and not knowing where they are.
How often does something like that happen that someone has an accident that they are unable to communicate or that everyone would just walk on by?

The old fashioned thing would be someone would see the person and call for help.

Why does everyone you know track their children though? It’s so unnecessary.

Don't track your secondary school aged child. It is overbearing and you are infantilising her

I think it just gives the illusion of safety. What can you actually do if your child falls and you're not there?

The only benefit for a kid out cycling would be if they don't seem to move you know where to find them.

But really when would you check where they are? When they are due home?
By which point you'd like to think either the child would have phoned for help or if they were in a really bad way someone would have stopped to help them.

I'd question the safety of the places they are cycling if it's the sort of place they could lie in a ditch unseen for any length of time.

@BeachHutsAndDeckchairs "I think it just gives the illusion of safety. What can you actually do if your child falls and you're not there"

I would know where she was to go and collect her. As I said-one of the few circumstances where tracking could be a help. I don't think it would make her safer pre fall. But it certainly would after.