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By Greg Bartlett

Keeping track of your teenager can be complicated. Your son has to go to school and work, plus he has football practice and he wants to join a band. Your daughter is involved in school programs and works downtown. Your teens are good kids for the most part, but it’s hard to know where they are at all times.

However, keeping track of your teens is important.

In 2006, over 836,000 people were reported missing. Around 80% of those were under 18 years of age. In 2008, close to 780,000 people were reported missing, and approximately 615,000 of those were under age 18.

Avoiding having your teenagers become one of the statistics may be as simple as giving them a GPS device. A GPS tracking device will let you know where the teen is at all times – provided, of course, the teen keeps it with him or her – and can alert you if your teenager goes out of particular boundaries or stays out past curfew.

You can find out if your teen has just been going to work and school, or if he’s also been sneaking to some friends’ houses where you think they’ve been drinking alcohol.

If the GPS device is in the car, any time the teen drives anywhere you will know about it and the teen can’t remove the device easily. If instead you use a small device that can be carried, say, in a purse, the teenager can accidentally forget about it or deliberately leave it, but it will pinpoint your teen’s location rather than just the car’s location.

That may be especially helpful under certain circumstances, such as if your teen walks to school.

Many GPS devices also allow users to hit a panic button if an emergency arises. If your teen finds herself in a dangerous situation as she leaves work, she can alert you – and police – and can have help sent at once.

A GPS device will let you know where your family members are and can provide peace of mind for you and them. They can know that help will be on the way should an emergency arise, and you can know what they’re doing at all times.

Rather than waiting for your teens to come home, never knowing if they’re lost, hurt, kidnapped, or just out late, with a GPS device you can monitor your family for their safety and to ensure that they don’t become missing persons.