In the midst of soaring crime rates and increasing peer pressure, parents are ready to take extreme action, even if it means using GPS tracking to keep an eye on their teens. But, do parents really have the right to track their teens? How far can you go before it becomes an invasion of privacy?
While most parents would agree that with increasing age comes a measure of responsibility, letting go of oversight is a hard pill to swallow. Shouldn’t a parent know where his son has gone? Isn’t it reasonable to know who he’s with? For parents with responsible teens the question is not so much whether the child is trustworthy, but whether her friends will lead her astray. No matter what the case, the general consensus among parents is that protecting their loved ones is of greater importance than exclusive privacy.
Naturally, teenagers tend to disagree. Many feel that they deserve a level of independence following their 13th birthday. After all, they have spent their childhood catering to parental authority. Why shouldn’t they have a say in where they go and what they do? Certainly, this position is understandable. Every adult can look back on his teen years and remember that feeling. On the other hand, we can all remember our parents breathing down our necks, too.
GPS tracking devices are no longer cumbersome contraptions. A tracker can be as small as a pager, and almost entirely undetectable on a vehicle. Parents who are deeply concerned for their teens’ safety can now effectively track them with these modern devices. Would you consider tracking your teen?
Article Written by Janice Grover
