Which Forum? It's true. It's funny. It's educational...and might come in handy!

[DDD]

Unlike many of you I am behind the technology curve..understatement! I know "of" GPS
tracking from cop shows etc. but yesterday I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when difficult child
(the AS 19 year old) asked if he could use my store internet for a minute. Obviously I said yes
since I was sitting at the desk next to his. OMG! You know what he showed me???

"Look Mama I can track myself to see where my cellphone and I are!" Sure as H, he says look
here........and "here" was the store right on the map! Can you imagine tracking yourself? I had a hard time not bursting into laughter. Instead, I replied "Wow, that's neat!" THEN easy child/difficult child came walking in and asked his little brother what he was doing. difficult child proudly showed him and then added "do you want me to set you up with this too?" Quickly...very very quickly difficult child said "no thanks I don't want Mama knowing where I am every minute." (After ten years of addictions don't you know he doesn't want me to have that power, lol.)

So here I post on General because some family members may need to get that set up for the protection of their difficult children, I could go on PE as others there will find it interesting and, of course,
in WC many will see the humor of an AS kid tracking himself! What a world! DDD

 

[Marguerite]

It's ironic - the Aspie kid is the one least likely to need to be checked up on like this.

I'm not sure if we can do this in Australia. They were talking about including it, but I think they took a lot of teeth out of our network system.

However, the mobile phone I would love to have if I had a particularly needy or wayward difficult child, would be the Tic talk, it not only shows you where your child is at any time (or at least, where the p[hone is) but it also will send a text message to a nominated number (or an email) if the phone is taken into a parent-defined out of bounds area. Plus they can't send text messages and can only call numbers YOU have entered (grandma, Mum work, Mum home, school, emergency). Other facilities - there are games on it, they are educational and the kid can earn extra credits towards more parental permission, if credit levels (ie "I am getting much better at my tables, Mum") are reached. Your discretion. There can be time limits on certain calls - ie you can't call your friends until after school finishes. The thing hooks onto the kid's bag with a carabiner.

We don't need one like this any more, not with an autistic difficult child who is fairly obedient and who also is studying from home. But when he was in Grade 5 or 6, I would have loved this.

And if I had a teenage problem difficult child like some of you, the sort of kids who try to send explicit messages or photos - they'd be downgraded to this phone, in our home.

Marg

 

[DDD]

The Tic Talk sounds like a winner to me! I've had more than one kid who would have absolutely been tracked....even in our small community. Lordy, GFGmom kept me in a state of panic when she was a teen. When she finally came home she would hand me the keys and say "I had fun so it's worth being grounded." Oh yeah, in the 70's there were no electronic helpers. Sigh. That's when the grey hair began to sprout, lol. DDD

 

[KJsMama]

Unfortunately the kids who need to be tracked are just too dang smart. My difficult child left his phone at home when he ran away because he knew (although we never told him) we could track him that way. Grrrr...

He did take his ipod with him, though (can't live without his music). When he gets back home we're gonna get him an iphone hoping that if he were to run again he would "need" to take it. We'll see...Hope we never have to find out!

 

[GoingNorth]

My mother has a phone like this. I don't remember the name, but it is actually aimed towards the elderly with larger buttons and a larger screen. All she needs it for is travelling or making long distance calls.

She gets her phone plus a thousand minutes for something like thirty dollars a month. All she has to do is "reload" the phone when minutes run low. Hmmm...I think the name might be "cricket".