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  • rebelgtp

    March 9, 2011 2:01 p.m. rebelgtp SuperDork

    No matter what you do to try and track your kids they will outsmart you, period. If they want to go racing around and drive like idiots they will do it in a friends car. If they don't want you knowing where they are they will do as others have mentioned and leave phones or the car in one location while making their way to their actual destination. That is just a fact of life. Hell if my parents had tried this on either of my cars I can tell you now their efforts would have failed.

    The example previously mentioned of the kids getting hit by another car outside their own house just goes to show you will NOT be able to control the fate of your children on the road or out in the world in general. E36 M3 happens no matter what. All you can do is prepare your children as best you can to be responsible and for them to use their brains. The sad fact is no matter how much you prepare your kids there will be a percentage of teenagers that will die and there is nothing at all you can do about it unless you plan on wrapping them in bubble wrap and keeping them in a closet until they turn 20, even then you will stand the chance of them dying in some fashion other than old age. I had friends in high school that died in car wrecks, some it was because of their own idiotic driving and others it was because of the driving of others.

    You also have to be prepared that doing something of this caliber is going to cause quite a bit of friction between your kids and yourself. In fact it may back fire on you and cause them to be more reckless considering you are showing them (in their eyes) that you do not trust them. When I was a teenager I trusted my father completely. I trusted in the fact that if I screwed up in the car he would take an axe to my car and then my ass would be grass.

  • Raze

    March 9, 2011 2:05 p.m. Raze Dork

    bravenrace wrote:

    After reading that last paragraph, I did a quick survey just for kicks. The average age of people making negative comments in this thread is 24. The average for positive comments is 41. I wonder why...

    I'm in the middle of your age range, and don't have children yet, but given the choices my parents made, and the choices I made despite them (or in spite of), and how lucky I am to still be alive, I have to say at least tracking the car is a damn good idea, after all it's YOUR property, despite the oppression the youngins feel toward you monitoring your kids . Now if only that tracking device would tell you if the car were airborne

    and to everyone saying 'the kids will just get in their friends car and outsmart you', you do realize that until that kid is on his own insurance / not a legal dependent of the parent if hoonage occurs and someone gets injured or killed, the parents of said child can be held liable. That's something most 'kids' don't think about in the real world. You tell them it's there, and maybe, just maybe they'll learn to be more cautious before getting in their friends car to go hog wild...

  • JThw8

    March 9, 2011 2:14 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

    Im not going to rehash alot of what was said other than I applaud the OPs efforts to be a responsible parent.

    Trust or no trust kids need to be monitored.

    There was no monitoring when I was a kid. I went places and did things that I should have never done. I turned out all right. Does that mean that monitoring is useless? Absolutely not. It means I got lucky. I turned out all right in the long run because I had parents who were involved and who steered me in the right direction when I got off course.

    I have friends who are paying the price for their kids actions. As much as the young'ns want to believe its not their parents problem as long as you are under 18 and in their house it is very much their problem and they are legally responsible for you. That means they pay for your screw ups. They have every right to track you and watch over you. And some day you'll be thankful for it.

    And while not as technologically advanced in all cases, you are NOT smarter than your parents. The fact that you believe you are only proves the point. Its a lesson we all learn the hard way :)

  • Raze

    March 9, 2011 2:44 p.m. Raze Dork

    JThw8 wrote:

    And while not as technologically advanced in all cases, you are NOT smarter than your parents. The fact that you believe you are only proves the point. Its a lesson we all learn the hard way :)

    Amen /thread.

  • madmallard

    March 9, 2011 2:55 p.m. madmallard Reader

    alot of people seem to get the impression that this is about controlling your kids.

    i don't think that at all. But I also don't think that if you have simple tools available to you to monitor their behavior and adjust your parenting accordingly, you're irresponsibly uninvolved.

    I think one of the key jobs of a parent is to give the correct moral context to a kid as they make choices in life, so they understand the consequences of making choices. Since there isn't one single way to do this for all childrens' personalities, it a proces that requires constant tweaking as you go.

  • carguy123

    March 9, 2011 3:10 p.m. carguy123 SuperDork

    While it's true you can't completely control your kids when they are out of your sight, you can build into them the moral compass and the fear of God that doesn't allow them to go far over the lines you set in the sand.

    I knew my kids would cross that line so I set that line in such a spot that I didn't believe they'd get killed or suffer too much harm by crossing it. In other words I set the line a little bit inside of what I felt was acceptable behavior. That allowed them to feel like a rebel by crossing the line and me to feel safe.

    That reminds me of an inappropriate joke I heard when I was a kid.

    2 bad guys came upon a couple parking and they decided to have their way with the girl. They beat the guy up and told him to stand right by the car in a box they'd drawn in the dirt .while they had their way with his girlfriend. They told him to just stand there and watch and if he got outside that box they'd beat him up even worse.

    While they were having their way with his girl they kept looking at him and instead of appearing to be worried or mad he was always smiling. After they were through they went over to him and asked why he was smiling and why wasn't her crying or mad? He said cause I've been outside the box over a dozen times.

  • Datsun1500

    March 9, 2011 6:46 p.m. Datsun1500 Dork

    The tracking device I mentioned on the 1st page can't be outsmarted. It is the same one used by UPS to monitor the trucks. They might be doing stupid stuff, but not in that car. It's not as easy as leaving your phone in a different spot or saying the car is somewhere else, you can zoom in on the car as it is driving down the street in real time....

  • dimarra

    March 9, 2011 7:26 p.m. dimarra Dork

    I must admit I'm a tad disappointed in the group on this one.

    Don't we GRMers normally brag over how we are the universal enablers?

    If the OP had asked how to put a BBC in the back of a Yugo, there'd be 24 suggestions how, 4 who were thinking through the details, 8 supporters and 2 who HAD done it already. Nay-sayers would number 2-3 max. ...and they'd be shunned as heretics.

    Why is this any different? OP asked a tech question. Whether we agree with his reasons or not is irrelevent.

    ...and now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

  • bravenrace

    March 10, 2011 6:32 a.m. bravenrace SuperDork

    In reply to dimarra:

    Hey, someone gets it! Thanks, dimarra.

  • DILYSI Dave

    March 10, 2011 7:45 a.m. DILYSI Dave SuperDork

    JThw8 wrote:

    Im not going to rehash alot of what was said other than I applaud the OPs efforts to be a responsible parent.

    Trust or no trust kids need to be monitored.

    There was no monitoring when I was a kid. I went places and did things that I should have never done. I turned out all right. Does that mean that monitoring is useless? Absolutely not. It means I got lucky. I turned out all right in the long run because I had parents who were involved and who steered me in the right direction when I got off course.

    I have friends who are paying the price for their kids actions. As much as the young'ns want to believe its not their parents problem as long as you are under 18 and in their house it is very much their problem and they are legally responsible for you. That means they pay for your screw ups. They have every right to track you and watch over you. And some day you'll be thankful for it.

    And while not as technologically advanced in all cases, you are NOT smarter than your parents. The fact that you believe you are only proves the point. Its a lesson we all learn the hard way :)

    This post, beside that avatar, made me laugh.

  • bravenrace

    March 10, 2011 8:43 a.m. bravenrace SuperDork

    In reply to DILYSI Dave:

    I'm curious. Why?

  • Brett_Murphy

    March 10, 2011 8:53 a.m. Brett_Murphy Reader

    The juxtaposition of the image and the advice made me giggle a little, too.

  • DILYSI Dave

    March 10, 2011 9:33 a.m. DILYSI Dave SuperDork

    bravenrace wrote:

    In reply to DILYSI Dave:

    I'm curious. Why?

    The message "I turned out alright" along side someone cutting "I'm Fine" into their forearm just tickled my funny bone.

  • bravenrace

    March 10, 2011 10:01 a.m. bravenrace SuperDork

    DILYSI Dave wrote:

    bravenrace wrote:

    In reply to DILYSI Dave:

    I'm curious. Why?

    The message "I turned out alright" along side someone cutting "I'm Fine" into their forearm just tickled my funny bone.

    Ah, I get it now. There were actually several lines in that reply that if taken a certain way might make someone chukle.

  • Streetwiseguy

    March 10, 2011 3:03 p.m. Streetwiseguy Dork

    carguy123 wrote:

    I knew my kids would cross that line so I set that line in such a spot that I didn't believe they'd get killed or suffer too much harm by crossing it. In other words I set the line a little bit inside of what I felt was acceptable behavior. That allowed them to feel like a rebel by crossing the line and me to feel safe.

    ^Truth.^

    I'm 50, just for reference, and have daughters age 20 and 16. I think if you haven't instilled a sense of right and wrong, and a fear of consequences, in your kids by about age 10, from there on you're screwed. My kids both have cars, I've taught them as best I can that everyone else on the road is dumb as a post, and no matter how the accident happened, its at least partly your fault because proper habits allow you to survive other peoples stupidity.

    I worry, but don't monitor, nor do I intend to. I also lead by example. If only I could get my wife to believe the stuff my kids do....

  • HiTempguy

    March 10, 2011 4:43 p.m. HiTempguy Dork

    Streetwiseguy wrote:

    I'm 50, just for reference, and have daughters age 20 and 16.

    Woah woah woah woah woah... your telling me you have daughters and I haven't met them yet? We've talked at least once at Race City I am sure...

  • JThw8

    March 10, 2011 5:53 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

    bravenrace wrote:

    DILYSI Dave wrote:

    bravenrace wrote:

    In reply to DILYSI Dave:

    I'm curious. Why?

    The message "I turned out alright" along side someone cutting "I'm Fine" into their forearm just tickled my funny bone.

    Ah, I get it now. There were actually several lines in that reply that if taken a certain way might make someone chukle.

    Dammit, am I causing inadvertent chuckles again?

  • March 31, 2011 12:40 p.m. Rowdy

    Where I grew up everyone in town knew you and they all knew your parents phone number. If I drove crazy, dad knew about it before I got home. Towns aren't as small and close knit as they used to be, but there are programs that allow the citizens to inform parents if teenagers aren't practicing safe driving habits.

    www.telladad.com
    is one program that might help save a life.

  • DeadSkunk

    March 31, 2011 2:17 p.m. DeadSkunk HalfDork

    I'm with Bravenrace on this one. It's MY van, MY insurance, MY liability, and they're MY sons. While there may be some negative consequences to tracking your kids, in terms of trust, those consequences all beat a funeral. Preaching done !
    Now go buy a fish finder/tracker at Bass Pro Shops and leave it in the trunk to see where it goes ! For the record, I have no idea if it will work !

  • fritzsch

    March 31, 2011 4:05 p.m. fritzsch New Reader

    silly canoes. also i would be furious if my parents tried to track me, im not the one who fell into a ditch this past winter... also when it comes to ones own kids, no one seems to advocate for nature and smarts getting rid of the dumb people.

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