Location tracker without smartphone?

[LBuLisa]

So with the social media ban and now our daughter’s new school has banned smartphones, how do we track the kids ? She’s 11 and we’ve used life360. Separate trackers only locate when nearby a smartphone so not accurate. Anyone have experience of a decent and reliable tracker please?

Why do you need a tracker? I have young adult dc and have never tracked them. I don’t understand why it’s appropriate unless very specific circumstances

There are smart watches that track a kid and let them phone one person.

Why on earth are you tracking your kids?

@00Kmost parents track there kids. Why on earth wouldn’t you in this day and age? Kind of a stupid comment to make from you

Do they?

A stupid comment. I have two teenagers. I don’t track them. I would have hated to be tracked by my parents, I don’t want to be tracked either. It’s an invasion of privacy. It’s like an episode of black mirror

Is it stupid though?!!!
there wasn’t tracking when we were kids, things have moved on. Most parents track their kids!

Do they though? Of my friends I would say half do. I find it creepy

This is the perfect opportunity to teach your child to be responsible for themselves, OP. You do not need to track your children, and "all our friends do jt" is not a good enough reason.

I agree most parents track young tweens/teens. Im following as in the same position op. Maybe parents of older teens are out of touch a bit- a few years makes a massive difference to how society changes. Can't even begin to compare to our childhoods.

Also I didn’t say you were stupid, you said my comment was stupid. You misinterpreted my response

Never tracked mine.

Why what’s changed? Can they not be trusted now? Showing you trust your kids is the best way to helping them trust themselves and making good decisions

It's like that line in Jurassic Park.

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should".

I know tracking technology is available, but I have actively chosen to not use it. People should stop to think carefully about why they are doing it, and the advantages vs the disadvantages.

Do they? How do you know this?

Why an earth does she have a phone of any kind at 11?

Why on earth wouldn’t you in this day and age?

What is it in particular about 'this day and age' that makes it necessary to track your children?

I do not know one person who does this.

Yes. Despite what certain sources/people would have us believe children are statistically far safer now than 30 years ago in the "real" physical world. It's the online world where there's far more danger and tracking does nothing there (which is why I'm gobsmacked on another thread where people are very angrily against the social media ban for kids).

It's the online world where there's far more danger

Agreed. I've said this on similar threads. Children and young people can be far more at risk in their own bedrooms than out in the street - yet you see parents here who don't think it's necessary to check their phones or restrict usage.

Why do people track their kids?

You only know where the tracking device is not the child. So if they leave their phone / coat somewhere you know where it is not the child itself.

it is important also for the parents to learn to let go / trust and let the child have independence.

Surely we need to teach children to
a) be where they say they will be
b) have skills to sort out situations themselves
c) when they have a phone to keep in contact as appropriate e.g. by text

I'm kind of the view that if you will only let your child go somewhere because you can track them, then maybe they shouldn't be going at all. Having a tracker doesn't actually make them safer.

@HelenaWilson the other thread I mentioned is astonishing. Some of them are full tin foil hat brigade.

I like to have a tracker, I trust my kids but the world is out there, and we have to teach them how to navigate it. Just letting them go with no clue where they are, in my opinion isn't the best teaching tool. Let them go, trust them to go trust them to leave when they say they will. Have a back up- tracker- if that doesn't happen for whatever reason. Its an age of learning we have technology to help so many choose to use it. I think for op who was asking which tracker, people coming on to say they didn't track their kids isn't that useful!

I’ve never tracked my kid. It never occurred to me to do so.

Not in my experience