This is akin to tracking your teens whereabouts on their cellphone, only more intrusive.  What kind of message is this sending to our kids?  There are situations where it might be needed, but generally I think it sends a message of mistrust.  Is big brother watching too?  Well, yes he is.  But let’s not get into that today! : )

Thanks for chiming in Joan!

Although we are at least a few years away from this question I would say that off-hand I think I might just get it.  If my son wants to drive a car while a minor, I would like a way to verify he is following the rules.  However, if he is 18 or older I would remove it even if he was living at home and still using our car (which he will be since he will commute to college).  I think it would be good to have that in-between time for a couple years (ages 16 and 17) where he can have the priviledge of the use of a car while still allowing me to verify he is following the rules and looking after his safety.  As homeschoolers my kids are used to having more supervision than other kids and the dreaded idea of “my parents don’t trust me” is foreign to them.  They know that trust is earned and verified in our family.

I’m kind-of inclined to agree with Monica.  And I don’t see a reason why your teen has to feel it’s an act of mistrust to install the devise—if my parents had put on of those in the car I drove as a teen, I would have felt safer.  There are some yucky parts of town around where I grew up—how nice for me (as a young girl) to know my parents would be automatically alerted if something “fishy” started going on with the car!  I knew my parents trusted me; they would not have “accused” me if they suddenly got a text message saying I ran a red light or sped someplace—they would have asked why the situation merited that behavior (ie, ASSUMING that it did, until and unless proven otherwise).  That is a good feeling of trust and its why I feel the devise does not have to take trust away at all.  Its all about how you present it to your child (and, perhaps, gender might matter here… I felt very vunerable when I first started driving through certain parts of town alone & aware that I would be on my own to handle any tire-changes or overheating problems that came up with the car.  I would have loved my parents to know where I was for my own personal protection/safety… but I’m not sure my brother would have felt that same need/desire, though!)  Oh, and as to whether or not big brother is watching… well, that gets into why I might NOT use the devise in spite of the value I mentioned above… but that has nothing to do with not trusting a teen!

I think it really depends on the teen.  Some CAN’T be trusted.  I don’t think I would use it, unless my child gave me cause: speeding ticket, accident, chronic breaker of curfew, other misbehavior.  I’d like to say that I would just not allow them to drive, but I am very much looking forward to the day that my oldest (only 13) can drive himself and his brother to Scouts or other activities, instead of me doing all the driving.  If a teen has a job or other legitimate reasons to drive, yet they have not proven themselves to be mature enough to make good decisions when alone, then I can see that this would be a very useful tool for an anxious parent.

I think of it more as a safety device than an an intrusion. If it provided a teen with a reminder of accountability, I can’t see how that’s bad. And I don’t really get how the cellphone tracking is bad either. Fortunately I don’t really ever consult it (except when we’ve misplaced a phone). The kids know their phones have GPS tracking on them, so it’s not some covert parent spying thing. The reality is, if they were up to no good, they could find a way around that. That said, if the thing is used in anyway as a tool for the insurance agency to rate your kid’s driving ... that is intrusive and big brother. I’m not big brother—- but am a safety conscious mother.