To Air Tag my son?

[Cluborange666]

Son is 15. We live in Manchester which does have a rough element, also the bomb is still at the back of my mind. DS has just got his first girlfriend from the other side of Manchester and they meet in the middle.
I bought a box of AirTags as my elder son (who is AuDHD) will be travelling to university every day with his brand new and expensive laptop (and he has massive form for forgetting bags).
I had the idea of making my younger child carry an AirTag in his pocket whilst in Manchester as a safety precaution. He says no and my husband supports this. I feel like it’s a good idea. Not because I will spy on him but in case he runs out of money or loses his phone and can’t get home. I’ll put it to the jury.

I don’t think you can tag him against his will. The culture of knowing where everyone is all the time is getting a bit bonkers I think.

We use find my fiends on iPhone. Me, dh and the children, even the adult ones. Have done for a decade.

Use life 360. My 15 year old know if he wants us to pay his phone bill then his phone has that app!

He'll be notified that it's there.

How’s an air tag going to help him get home? Does he have form for losing phones and bus fare? Does he not know how to use phone boxes and reverse the charges? Why would he lose his phone but not the air tag? How would you know he had lost his phone and bus fare? Would you be planning on driving out to the rough location if the air tag hadn’t moved for half an hour?

I’m with him and your dh. Ridiculous idea.

No too invasive. Ensure he's street smart, knows where to avoid and always carries some cash separately from his wallet/phone to get a cab...drill into him it's emergencies only.
Personally I'd get him watch the "get home bags" videos on YouTube as, whilst some of them really can't wait for the zombie apocalypse, it does open the mind to being prepared for dealing with problems

No, it's not normal.

He's 15, he needs to learn not to run out of money or lose his phone.

If you're worried about bombs etc, he can't help that and shouldn't have to be tagged like a cat because of it.

It's all part of allowing them to grow up I'm afraid.

Just to be clear, I wouldn’t do it secretly. I just asked him to put it in his pocket but he said no. He’s off out without it.

All his money is on the app on the phone so if he lost his phone, he’d have nothing.

So give him twenty quid to put in a zipped pocket.

He's said no. You can't just go ahead and do it regardless FFS.
Unless you want him to massively pull away from you in future.

I wouldn’t do that.

Life 360 or find my phone

No AirTag - that’s a step too far

The buses only take cards/phones. Not sure what cash would achieve? It’d be £30 for a taxi. Are there still any pay phones?

Don’t know why don’t you go and look? Honestly, your answers are all excuses to warrant the air tag. How did you get home if you lost your bus fare? How would you know if he lost his bus fare/phone by having an air tag? He’s says no, so had your DH, deal with your anxiety and that doesn’t include tagging him.

And how is an air tag going to help? Think it through.

Why wouldn’t he get a taxi and you pay when he got home?

Use find my phone.

ensure he has bank card and Apple Pay on his phone , and has card/phone in different pickers incase he loses one.

drill in to him the importance of having fully charged phone before going out.

talk through his strategies if he gets lost/loses phone etc (where would he go to seek help, does he have your phone number memorised etc)

I totally understand the urge to AirTag him, but also totally understand his reluctance to allow this.

Add life360 to his phone. Our whole family has it. It’s not we track each other but it’s useful on the occasion we need to know if someone is home or not.

Buses in Manchester take cash 🤷🏻‍♀️. It's literally £2. Make sure he's got £4 tucked away for emergencies.

I think it's fair your son tells you where he's going (ie. City centre/ her area) but I think an air tag is a step too far.

Remind him of general safety and responsibility for phones. Surely his girlfriend has a phone? You could tell him to save your number in her phone just in case (or he could learn it, but none of us do that these days 😂)

The Air Tag only tells you where the Air Tag is - not necessarily where your son is!

I haven't seen a phone box with a working phone in it for at least 10 years...

Where about do you and the girlfriend live? Also, what bomb?

.yes there are payphone, he can reverse the charges and if he gets a taxi you can pay when he gets home, a cheap watch might be better if he agrees but that could get nicked.

The Manchester Arena bomb

If he has no phone and no money he will have to walk or ask to use someone phone to call
you.

either way he will have to figure it out. Train stations have staff. He can problem solve I assume