How to Negotiate With the Kid About Tracking Their Location?
Find My Kids together with a child psychologist will tell you how to convince a kid to install a program for tracking their location on their personal phone.
Contents:
Before you start talking with your kid about installing the app Find My Kids on their phone, first sincerely answer one question: what problem will this application solve for you personally?
Probably, you want to know that your kid is safe or this app will help to protect the kid from possible threats. You can come to the rescue, if your kid needs it, so you can always be near. Be honest with the kid, your anxiety is a sign of your love and the kid will feel it.
Age: 3-7 years
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Your kid is still a preschooler and their development takes place in the game format. Most psychologists think that interaction with mobile devices during the day should be limited and carried out under the supervision of an adult.
At this age, the kid creates a “culture of communication” with the phone or tablet. Therefore, you can independently install the Find My Kids app on the device and offer the kid an introduction to the gadget. It will be quite natural for the kid and it will not cause resistance later.
Age: 7-11 years
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Your kid is a primary school pupil. The tablet and computer are important components of studying, and the phone is a necessary thing to stay always connected, first of all, with you.
Going to school is the first adult step for your child. This event is the best time to purchase their own mobile device or GPS watch.
You can independently install the applications that you find useful and informative, including the Find My Kids app. Tell your kid what applications you installed on their phone and for what.
You can use the following phrases:
This application will help us to be always connected.
I will be sure that everything is fine with you if I know where you are.
I will be able to help you if you need it.
You will always be protected, even when we (parents) are at work.
Emphasize the benefits that the kid will receive. Tell more about security, not about possible threats.
The kid listens carefully to the parents at this age, so reaching the understanding at this moment will not be difficult for you. Show the kid where to press in case of a dangerous situation.
Age: 12-14 years
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At this age, the kid is a “small adult”. The need for making independent decisions becomes especially significant. It is important for a teenager that their opinion will be listened to and given freedom of choice. That’s why the installation of the app Find My Kids can be approached in the format of the request.
First, tell your kid that you appreciate their independence and hobbies. Ask what new interests they have and try to support them. Then tell about your request to install the application and explain why it is so important for you (here the answer to the question that you asked yourself at the very beginning comes into play).
You can use the next phrases:
You have already achieved a lot (you have a lot of work/many things have changed in your life). We appreciate your achievements. You have become completely independent. Do you have new friends and interests, what are you keen on now? I trust you in what you are interested in. I am sure that you can independently make many important and well-considered decisions now. I have one request and I really want to agree on this issue with you. You grow up and have more and more new things to do, meetings with friends, for example, and I worry when you’re not at home. So I want to ask you to install an application that will help me to know that you are safe. So I will be calmer and you will be not disturbed by my calls and messages.
Tell honestly about the opportunities that the app has, for example, that you will see where your kid is at the moment:
Let’s together limit some boundaries of the territory where you usually spend the most part of the day. Let it be a “zone of trust”. If you are there, then I know that you are all right. I will receive a notification on the phone in case you go beyond. So, please, just inform me that you have occasions in another place, then I will not worry.
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Tell your kid also that you will know about some settings on their phone, and you will not be worried. For example, if the kid turned on the silent mode and does not answer the phone, you can use the Loud signal function so the kid will receive a notification and call you back.
Talk about the moment associated with listening to a sound around the kid’s phone separately:
The app has the opportunity to record sounds around your device. I promise you to use this function only for your safety, so I will be able to help you.
Try to talk about the reasons why it is important for you and for the kid. It is not necessary to emphasize the dangers that seem to “wait” for the kid everywhere. It even can cause the kid to feel that you do not trust him and treat him like a small one.
At the conclusion of the conversation add a few more words on how you love your child:
I love you that’s why your safety is so important to me. I trust you and I will not control every step you take. I just want to know that everything is OK with you.
Thank your child for having heard your request.
Age: 14-17 years
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Your child has already formed personal boundaries at this age. They feel self-dependent and completely independent. The phone is their personal space, so be as considerate as possible in your request.
Self-confidence usually appears at this age, a teenager starts to feel that they know everything better than adults and that they do not need help. You need to discuss even the possibility of installing the application with your kid. They should do it themselves at the same time, if possible, independently determine all those functions that will be available on their phone. Try to start a conversation like this:
I know that you are already an adult and I respect your desire to make independent decisions in everything. We all have situations in which we need help and support. In order for both of us not to worry, I want to ask you to install the app on your phone, which will help me always stay in touch with you. Let’s discuss the capabilities of this program and together we will determine which functions we will connect. I would like to have the opportunity to know that you are in a safe place and whether I will be able to get through to you. Let’s put together on the map the places, where I know you’ll be safe.
Lifehacks for parents
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A simple way to persuade a child to install a parental control app is to offer them a benefit.
Tell your child about the benefits that the Find My Kids service will bring and about the problems that the app is able to solve with minimal effort and consequences.
1. Losing their phone
This is important for parents whose children already use smartphones — they go to school with them, and take them everywhere. Probably, when buying the gadget, you warned the child that this expensive thing should be taken care of. Most children are really afraid of losing their favorite “toy” – not so much because of the cost of the phone, but for fear of their parents’ reaction: shouting, punishments, and being given afterwards nothing but a cheap button phone.
The Find My Kids app makes it easy to find your smartphone by pinpointing its location on the map.
You can tell your child something like this:
The app will help us find your phone if you lose it or leave it somewhere. We will not scold you and punish you for your inattentiveness, but will try to solve the problem quickly together.
2. More free time and space
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The main advantage of our app for parents is that it allows them to find the child’s location without having to call or text them. To make this need clear to the child, you need to present the tracking and listening function in a clear and effective way.
If we install this app, I will be able to allow you to walk longer and stay with your friends. I will stop bothering you with calls because I will know that you are safe.
3. Co-configuration of functions
Sound around is the main stumbling block in parents’ attempts to negotiate with their children about installing the app. If the child is categorically against this function, do not insist. It is better to ask them to turn off the listening function in the settings together with you and return to this conversation after the child gets used to the presence of the control app, or until you find a strong enough argument in favor of listening.
This function can be ignored so that the child agrees to install this kind of program or stops deleting it from their device, isn’t that right?
If you are afraid that I will listen to you, let’s ban this feature in the settings together. This way you can be sure that no one will overhear what you are doing, and I will be calm because I will be able to see where you are if necessary. I won’t use the features that you don’t like. We will discuss and configure everything together with you.
If your kid does not agree to install the application Find My Kids for the first time, please do not insist. This will cause protest or resistance, hardly there will be a productive solution after this later. It is better to talk with the child again when they will be tuned more positively. Emphasize that you trust them and do not control their every minute during the day!
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