Tracking Your Teenager

In every country in the world, there are kids that believe that they can get away with anything, but instead, may get find trouble. Some online activities that appear innocent, may expose your entire family to great harm. In this information age, more teens have internet access now than ever. In fact, 93% of American teens between the ages of 12 and 17 years old regularly go online. Each day on the news we hear about internet predators lurking on the social media websites such as MySpace, YouTube, Friendster, preying on innocent children and teens. While most of these networks install safegaurds to screen out predators to curb abuse, they are simply not capable of providing a completely safe atmosphere for our children. Consider these surveys compiled by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: Over 71% of teens have public online profiles, 65% admit to having engaged in unsafe, inappropriate or illegal online activities, and 38% of high school teens hide their online activities from their parents.

What can we do to protect our families? To begin with, we can monitor our kid's activities! There are many ways of accomplishing this, quietly and discreetly. Gather some evidence, and your family intervention will have some weight. On the other hand, you may just be confirming that you have a good kid, with a great head on their shoulders!

There are so many ways to follow your kid's internet habits. You can install hidden software on the computer that can copy ingoing and outgoing emails, then instantly forward them to you. Other types of software can actually record chats, email, websites and web surfing, and even block any website you wish. Install a keystroke logger to the keyboard cord and record every word they type on their keyboards. Cell phone sim cards hold address book information and can be easily downloaded onto a sim card reader, and phone conversations can be recorded at the push of a button. You should also move that computer out of their private room and into a public area in the house. This can drastically can the time spent in risky websites.

What about if they aren't in the house? GPS tracking devices come battery operated, and in sizes as small as a pack of gum. This compact device is designed to be secretly hidden anywhere in a car such as the under the seat. The car's route is wirelessly transmitted in real time and laid over a Google map, so you can see your teenager's location. Do you suspect drug use? You can buy home drug test kits and even simple sprays that can detect trace residues of drugs or marijuana, on just about anything. This is truly a non-confrontational drug test!
There are many ways you can stay informed about what your kids are doing. Knowledge is power, and the more you know, the better off your family will be. See these type of products and more, at Smart Life Store.

Richard Fan is a practicing emergency/trauma physican assistant in a busy Southern California ER, and an medical officer on the national disaster response team, DMAT CA-1.  Routinely treating victims of assault, rape, and robbery, he has developed a passion and expertise in Personal Safety Thru Smart Technology.  Learn more about these and other Smart Life Store products at SmartLifeStore.com