iSharing

Halloween is just around the corner, but many parents are considering canceling their children's plans for trick-or-treating due to the widespread pandemic we've been dealing with since 2020.

While you certainly have the right to do so, it's important that your children understand exactly why they are being kept home. This will help them cope with any fears they may have developed due to the pandemic.

Until the pandemic finally subsides, it's important for you and your loved ones to follow all safety precautions so that everyone can enjoy Halloween in peace.

If you're going to go door-to-door trick or treating, or even head out for a walk on Halloween night, then please do follow our safety tips for Halloween this year. These tips are perfect for families with young children so that you can be well-prepared to enjoy Halloween during the continuation of covid this year.

No More than One Hour

Children should not be out trick or treating for more than an hour. They can return home to eat their candy, play with their costumes, and undergo a thorough hand washing before doing anything else.

Inspect All Candy

DO NOT let children eat any of the candy until you inspect it first. A lot of people are peddling toxic candy this year through the pandemic. If you do happen to find some good ones, make sure that everyone shares with each other.

Well-Fitted Costume

Parents should also make sure that the child has a well-fitting, reflective costume. Make sure that they carry a flashlight and also have a walking buddy. When you head out for trick or treating, be sure to carry identification and the phone number of your family's pediatrician in case there is an emergency.

Allow Some Independence for Teens

If your children are old enough, they may want to dress up as doctors or nurses and go into the community themselves. This will give them a sense of independence so that they can feel a little more confident out there trick or treating as older kids.

If you do give it a go to allow older kids to go out alone, be sure to keep a close eye on them and make frequent contact with them by phone. It might also help if they stick to the business areas of the community where there are fewer people opening their doors for trick or treating.

Tips for Celebrating Halloween at Home

For those who aren't quite ready to go out to your regularly scheduled trick or treating events, then consider the below ideas for celebrating Halloween at home during covid this year.

Why not try hosting a family costume party?

You can make delicious snacks or treats for everyone to enjoy together. You can also try to carve a pumpkin if you like, which is perfect for trick or treating in your community.

You could even watch Halloween-themed movies in the evening to give your family the chance to bond over something they love. And of course, there's always Halloween-themed board games.

Considering technology has evolved to the point of using cell phones and GPS tracking, it's almost laughable that parents would still have to deal with misplaced children. Yet, in this age of deviants, perverts and kidnappers, is there really any wonder why some parents are absolutely paranoid about their child's safety?

The fact is that although parents are increasingly aware of what is going on, they struggle with how to best handle or deal with these situations. This is where people have found tracking apps beneficial in keeping their children safe.

Many trackers offer a host of capabilities that can help keep your kids out of danger but still allow them the freedom to go outside and play without your supervision. Parents just have to choose the right ones that will suit their family's needs.

A big concern for parents is unauthorized use of their child's phone or devices, but some apps can help protect parents from these scenarios because they let them know who their kids are talking to, where they are and what they're doing.

Ease Parental Fears

Parents can easily let their fears get the best of them. Tracking apps allow parents to feel a sense of security that they weren't able to before. Imagine an app that will work with your child's cell phone and tell you what they're up to all day. It gives parents a sense of comfort knowing where their child is and even who they are talking to.

Save Parents Some Time

Tracking apps also save a lot of time for the parents. All a parent needs to do is put in their child's phone number, find them on the map, and follow their progress while simultaneously tracking all other things like social media use, location history, contacts, and texts. Many parents who have used tracking apps say it has saved them time and frustration when it comes to finding their children.

Open Communication

Parents who use tracking apps often find that is has helped them open up more about their kids' whereabouts and activities. They always know where they're at, what time they'll be getting home, and why they're spending so much time on their phone.

It helps parents communicate better with their children. This kind of openness can also help build trust, which is basically the key to every relationship.

Be Careful What You Track

Of course, with these apps come some potential risks. Although most are set up for security reasons that will protect your child from things like predators and bullies, they could also be used by someone who wants to harm them.

There are some trackers that will even be able to determine if your child is using their phone while driving, which is very dangerous. However, knowing what your child does online can help them grow into a well-rounded adult. It just has to be done right.

You should find apps that are easy to use and share with your child. They should be able to check in regularly with their parents without having to worry about it being too much of an intrusion in their life.

A useful app would allow you to monitor your child's activity when they are away from home, like when they are at school or out with friends. It also helps to know where they're located in case of an emergency.

Stopping the Problem Before It Starts

Parents who use tracking apps to monitor their children's activity can help protect them from things like bullying, drugs and alcohol, sexting, smoking, and more. Trackers also allow you to get in touch with your child when necessary so they don't get themselves into trouble unknowingly.

Before you get started, make sure to go over the app with your child and discuss how you want them to use it. They should be able to tell you what they do on their phone without fear of punishment, which will help both of you in the long run.

Each year more and more teen drivers pass their driving test and end up with a license to drive. This makes many parents anxious but it's simply part of the growing up process!

Today we're going to share some tips to help parents learn more about the best way to track their teen drivers. We hope that our tips inspire you to find a safe and reasonable way to track your teen's whereabouts as well as driving habits while they're out there working, hanging with friends, and doing other teen things!

Do you know how fast your teen is driving?

Do you know where they are at all times?

Being able to see this kind of information about your teen driver is vital if you want to monitor their behavior on the road. Knowing whether or not they're speeding, running red lights, and staying under the speed limit can give you peace of mind when you're not there in the car with them.

How to Track Your Teen Driver

There are several ways to do this and most of these methods only require a cell phone in order to accomplish. These apps allow parents to keep an eye on where their teens are, where they're headed and what kind of reckless driving habits they've gotten up to.

Download Our App With Driving Report

There are a number of different apps out there that can help you find out where your teen is at all times. Some of these apps only provide the location of the car while others will let you see how fast they're going as well as if they've been in an accident.

We recently launched our Driving Report feature to help give more parents peace of mind while they have a new teen driver out there on the road.

You Should Set a Curfew

Setting a curfew for your teen driver is one way you can help monitor their whereabouts and know that they're home safe and sound. It's also a good idea to set up a meeting spot near where they're going so that they can call you if they're running late.

Discuss the Risks of Distracted Driving

Even when teens think they're being responsible, texting and driving is one of the most common distractions they can get caught up in. And with studies showing that teens text more than they talk on their cell phones, it's important to ensure your teen understands the dangers of texting and driving and how distracted driving can affect their future behind the wheel.

Disabling Phone May be an Option

Some parents will disable their teen's phone while they're driving and require that they call home if they need to communicate with anyone and once they arrive at their destination.

This also ensures that your teen isn't distracted by text messages and is more aware of their surroundings – both on the road and in the car.

Host a Weekly or Monthly Family Meeting

Consider hosting a weekly or monthly meeting to discuss your teen drivers schedule, rules, and consequences as well as listen to any issues your teen has encountered since your last family meeting.

This will keep communication lines open between your teen driver and you so that both of you feel more confident in confiding in each other should issues arise or changes need to be made.

Many new teen drivers are stuck having to share a family vehicle with their parents after they get their license for the first time. This leads to parents having to set a new class of rules for the teen driver when using the family vehicle.

Today we're featuring a list of tips and ideas to help you discuss rules that you'll enforce when sharing a family vehicle with your teen driver.

First, discuss the vehicle that you’ll be using. For example, if your teen is driving a minivan with a back seat full of car seats and sports equipment then it might not make sense to have them drive alone in a sports car because they won't be able to carry as many people or things. Discussing the vehicle ahead of time will also help you let your teen know which vehicle they should use when going out with friends.

Don't Give Up Your Keys

One of the most important rules is that you don't give up your keys. Allowing your teen driver to use the family car while allowing yourself to not have access puts everyone in a dangerous position. If you're ever concerned about whether or not your teen is ready, it's best to follow this rule.

You Don't Need to Drive New Driver Everywhere

When you set out rules and restrictions for your teen driver, it's important to understand why you're doing so. If the reason that you want to limit where your teen goes is because they are young and inexperienced, then it isn't necessary for you to be in the car during a practice run or going to the grocery store.

The family car is an introduction to being out on their own, and it's important to have your teen drive with someone that they trust and feel comfortable driving with. If you're constantly in the passenger seat for every errand then your teen will learn that there isn't much of a difference between you and being out on their own.

Make Your Teen Driver Work For a Vehicle

If your teen wants to have a car for school and after-school activities, then show them that it's something they'll need to work for. This can be done by having them save up money or do additional chores around the house in order to earn their own set of keys.

Teens are going to make mistakes, which means you need to have a few rules in place that allow them the opportunity to learn from those mistakes. If your teen breaks a rule or shows bad judgment while driving with someone else then you should punish them.

The other person that was in the car is going to be held responsible, which means your teen should have their own set of consequences waiting for them when they return home. This can include having to pay a fine or losing vehicle privilege for a few weeks.

This list of points will help you get started with understanding how you're going to discuss the rules of your family vehicle with your teen driver. It's important that you remain safe and don't pass up opportunities to teach them while they are still learning. Waiving off mistakes or allowing them to have free range of the car only shows them that there aren't any consequences for poor decisions.

As a teen, you will need to learn how to drive. This is a big responsibility that can be daunting for some people. The following tips should help guide your first time on the road.

Always make sure you are practicing in an area where there are not many cars or pedestrians around so no one gets hurt if something happens.

Get someone who has been driving for at least 3 years to teach you the basics of driving and let them know what your intentions are when learning how to drive.

Always wear a seat belt

Seat belts save lives, although they are usually just used at the beginning and end of trips. It is important to always buckle up when driving in order to protect yourself and your passengers from injury. Wearing a seatbelt for longer trips helps prevent the driver from being drowsy while driving.

Don't drink and drive!

DUI (driving under the influence) is a serious offense that can end in life altering consequences, including death. It's better just to wait until the night is over before you continue on your journey. Get a designated driver or have someone available to take you home.

Don't text while driving!

You can wait until your car is stopped or find a safe place to pull over when you feel like answering a text. Always drive responsibly and don't let yourself become distracted by technology that can be put away for the time that you are behind the wheel.

Instead of texting, look at the road and be aware of everything that is happening on it.

Be especially careful near young children.

Many children are not able to recognize a moving vehicle and will often wander into the street without paying attention to cars. They may stop in one place without watching for other vehicles or have their back turned while playing and be unable to hear the sound of an oncoming car. Be especially aware of children when driving around parks, schools and neighborhoods where large concentrations of kids are likely to gather.

As a first time driver you should also follow laws that pertain to teen drivers in your area. Some states have restrictions on how long teens are able to drive at night, how many passengers they are allowed to have in their car and what times of day they need to be off the road.

Pay attention to these laws and make sure you are aware of their restrictions.

Even if they seem bothersome, following the rules will help keep you safe while driving. A driver who is not worried about potential punishment for breaking a law can be more likely to take unnecessary risks and cause an accident that could have been prevented had he or she been paying attention to the rules.

It is also important to always follow traffic laws even if you are with an experienced driver who has shown that they can drive effectively. It's a good idea to watch what your driving instructor does and then ask them questions about why they do it that way when you get behind the wheel by yourself in order to develop good habits that will last you your whole life.

Our new driving report feature helps ease parents' anxiety with their new teen driver. Having a new driver that’s out there in the world driving around to and from work or school is not easy for parents. That first teen driver in the family will have the most anxious parents in the world!

That’s why we wanted to share some of the benefits of our new driving report feature to help ease the anxiety that parents experience during those first few months of having a new teen driver. Our driving report feature will help you recognize the patterns your teen is starting to have with driving and notice where they’re frequently going to ensure that they’re following safety and parental rules.

Could Save Money

Some insurance companies will use the data you receive from the driving report as a focus to lower your insurance rates. With that being said, the report could increase your rates if it’s not that great. This can help you and your teen save some cash.

Discuss options with your car insurance company to find out how your tracking app data may help lower the cost of your insurance premium each month or year.

Knowing Helps Calm Nerves

Our driving report will help you feel calmer because you’ll see more data from your teen’s driving experiences when you’re not in the passenger seat. The driving report will notice any hard braking, speed discrepancies, and phone usage or rapid acceleration to name a few things.

This can help parents everywhere feel calmer as they experience panic attack like systems when their teen takes the family vehicle out the first few times.

Helps Teen Follow Rules

When a teenager knows that their parent is monitoring what they’re doing behind the wheel, there’s a higher chance that the teen will follow more safety rules. This means your teen won’t grab the phone while they’re driving, and be less likely to speed because they know their parents will get the driving report.

This is a fabulous way to encourage your teen driver to make good decisions while behind the wheel and ease parental anxiety at the same time.

Mindful Teenager

Lastly, having a driving report will help you raise a more mindful teen driver. Your teen will eventually be one of those adults out there on the highway making decisions in a quick moment whenever situations arise. Using family tracking apps and our driving report feature you can help encourage your teen to be a more mindful driver.

Human beings, even teenagers, tend to make better decisions when they know that someone else is watching over them, so use our feature to keep your teen on the safe side of driving.

How can I monitor my teen driving?

Many parents these days want to take advantage of the technology we have in the world to learn new ways to monitor their teen driving. Today we’re discussing a new feature in the iSharing family tracking app that allows parents to get a driving report.

The iSharing app with the teen driving report is one of the best ways you can monitor your teen driving. You’ll get a report about location, acceleration patterns, high speed alerts, hard braking, and other notifications based on how you set up the driving report feature in our app.

One of the hardest chapters in parenthood is that year when your teen is old enough to drive. There are various laws all over the world, but in the United States, a child can get their driver’s license at age 16 if they complete a driver’s education course and have a specific number of hours driving.

This is where parents get involved. Your teen must drive the recommended hours of driving behind the wheel as you sit in the passenger seat so that they’re equipped to take on the role of being a new driver in the world.

Many parents get overwhelmed, anxious and whatnot about the fact that their teen is about to be a driver but you don’t have to. Today we’re sharing some tips for parents teaching their kids to drive. These tips will help make the process calmer and perhaps a little fun so that you and your teen can bond during the driving lessons.

Respond Calmly

Listen, your teen is probably already nervous behind the wheel while you’re there in the passenger seat so be sure to respond calmly whenever they ask a question, od something wrong or whatnot. Keeping your cool in the passenger seat will ensure everything goes smoothly while you try to teach your kid to drive.

This is the time to breathe before speaking and respond appropriately to your teen when they ask a question or do something incorrectly. This driving session is about learning and patience, remembering that will go a long way in the success of teaching your teen to drive.

Plan the Route

Before leaving the house make sure to plan the route that you’re going to go on with your teen. It’s imperative that you and your teen discuss the various routes around town that you’ll be driving. Your teen may know a trouble spot in your community that they want to practice, and you may have some ideas too.

Now is the time to discuss the various options for practice drive routes so that you both can enjoy this time together and you can work on some of the harder driving skills.

Be Clear With Instructions

Teaching your kid to drive is stressful and overwhelming. Be sure to say what you mean and mean what you say. What we mean is to be clear with instructions. If you mean “use the brake” then say that, don’t say slow down.

Being literal and clear with your concise instructions will help your teen listen immediately rather than try to comprehend what you mean by ‘slow down’ or other words that don’t really tell the teen what to do in the moment.

Lead by Example

Lastly, you must be more aware of how you’re driving. Right now your teen is paying close attention to how you’re driving. This is one of the ways your teen learns some good, and bad, driving habits. That’s why we cannot stress this fact enough; you must lead by example at all times.

Take time to come to a complete stop. Be sure to yield and do anything else that may have slacked off from doing as you grew to be an adult driver. This is the time to help your teen learn the best driving habits possible.

Many parents are realizing the need to use an app to monitor their teen drivers. No longer do we live in a world where parents have to sit at home worried about how well their teen driver is doing or where they are.

Technology is so advanced that there is a teen driving feature available for parents to use family tracking and other monitoring options to make sure their teen driver is safe. Some of the teen driver apps monitor the speed, hard braking, and sudden or fast acceleration patterns.

While you won’t be able to physically see what your teen driver is doing, this app feature will help you understand more of their good and bad habits behind the wheel. When a parent can be more aware of their teen driver’s habits, they can adjust or create new rules with consequences for such actions to make sure their teen driver is making better decisions while behind the wheel.

Delivers Reports

Having an app that monitors your teen driver and reports back to you via Android or iOS is a fabulous way to be more aware of how well your teen driver is doing. Perhaps your teen driver doesn’t mean to accelerate so quickly or hard brake, and so this app can help open the communication between you two.

Opens Communication

Parents can use the data to have a deeper discussion about how well the teen driver is doing or perhaps go driving together to help reduce some of the habits your teen is developing. The quicker your handle the issues your teen driver is having; such as fast acceleration or hard braking, the better off the vehicle will be.

Reduces Vehicle Maintenance Costs

Vehicle maintenance can get expensive and so these teen driver apps will help you reduce the risk of your teen making more wear and tear on the vehicle. Hard braking means that you’ll have to replace the brakes more frequently and it will cost more money to maintain the vehicle.

Promotes Responsibility

While you are monitoring your teen driver’s habits and they know it, this app will promote them to be more responsible with their actions while behind the wheel. Teen drivers that know their parents are watching their behavior behind the wheel are more apt to make better choices of how to drive and so forth while they’re in the driver’s seat.

Awards for Safe Driving

Some teen driving apps offer awards or rewards for safe driving or good driving decisions. Whether you use a teen driver monitoring app that provides this feature or not, you can create your own unique rewards program at home using the app monitoring feature. Just write down various rewards the teen will get based on making good choices behind the wheel and work together to promote safe driving every time your teen driver is out there on the road.

While you did have to monitor your teen driver when they have a permit and must drive with an adult, as soon as they get their state driver’s license they will no longer need an adult beside them. This is why it’s so important to have a teen driver option on the family tracking app you love so much.

As we approach the summer season many teens will be getting their permit to drive with an adult. This means many parents are going to want safety tips for teaching their teen to drive. We’re sharing some of our favorite teen driving safety tips to help you educate your teen about the road before they get behind the wheel with their driver’s license.

These tips and information will help you feel comfortable as a parent with a new driver and help your teen feel more confident when they sit in the driver’s seat for the first time without you in the passenger seat.

Wear a Seatbelt

The number one safety tip to teach your teen about driving is to always wear a seatbelt. Your teen should know how to properly put their seatbelt on by now, but just in case do a quick refresher about the proper way to wear a seatbelt while driving.

Watch for Bicycles

Many traffic accidents occur with bicyclists, especially during the summer months. Help your teen understand the importance of not checking merely once, but looking twice to make sure there are no bicycles or other things in their blind spots before they proceed to go into an intersection or whatnot.

Teach Right of Way

You may need to review which car has the right of way when you’re at an intersection so that you can help your teen understand this rule of the road. Help your teen understand who has the right of way when you come to a four-way stop or other instances when there are multiple people stopped at a stop sign rather than a traffic light to guide traffic.

Obey the Speed Limit

Help your teen understand that no matter how fast other drivers are going that they must maintain the proper speed limit at all times. The speed limit is there to obey and keep the traffic flowing safely. Your teen will soon find that not everyone obeys the speed limit, but that doesn’t give them the right to speed. They will get pulled over, may receive a ticket, and could lose the privilege of driving in some situations.

Take Drivers Education

Drivers' education is required in most regions for teenagers who are about to get their driver's license. Make sure your teen attends a valid teen drivers ed course. This will help them understand all of the rules of the road, and get ample driving hours in between the state provides them with a valid teen driver’s license.

Answer Questions

Lastly, do not be afraid to answer questions that your teen asks. Your teen may have a lot of questions and shouldn’t be shot down for asking these questions. You want to be as open and honest as possible so that your teen will trust you enough to come to you when they have a difficult question or situation that occurs when they’re out on the road with their driver’s license.

The key to having a successful and safe teen driver is to spend quality time with them learning the tricks of the road. You’ll want to make sure they’re confident with parking, traffic lights, turn signals, watching out for other drivers and pedestrians.

Having your first teen driver in the household can bring about many emotions. On one hand, you’re happy and joyous that your teen made it this far and passed their teen driving test. On the other hand, you’re nervous that they’ll be out there on the road, driving without you watching over them.

It’s all too common for parents of teen drivers to have mixed emotions about this special day! We hope that we can lend some information that will encourage you to feel more pride and confidence about your teen driver than worry and sadness.

Today we’re going to share some tips that will help you encourage your teen driver to be a more mindful driver out there in the real world.

Be the Role Model

The first step to ensuring that you’re raising a mindful driver is to be a mindful driver! You’ll want to show your teen how to be in the moment whenever you’re behind the wheel. Since distracted driving is one of the main causes of accidents, mindful driving is an imperative tool to teach teens.

Distracted driving isn’t just about putting the smartphone on silent when driving or eating food while driving, there are other ways a teen driver can be distracted. They could have their mind on other things or have passengers that are distracting them. Teach your teen how to be more present at the moment without distractions, and to be comfortable pulling over if they feel distracted at all.

Place Limits on Distractions

There are a few ways to place limits on distractions. Since your teen driver is still a minor child that’s under your direct supervision and guidance, you can place rules regarding driving the family vehicle. If your teen has their own vehicle, you can place rules on that as well!

Make sure your teen knows that their cell phone should be shut off or put on silent and placed in a compartment in the vehicle so that they’re not distracted by the lights or buzzing of their phone while driving. Make sure your teen limits eating food behind the wheel so they can stay focused on driving.

You may want to place a limit on how many passengers your teen driver can have in the vehicle. Some regions of the world have restrictions on how many passengers the new driver is allowed to have, check with your region to see what laws are in place for this and help your teen know the laws.

Make a Contract

Another way to keep your teen more mindful about how they drive and what type of distractions that let into the vehicle is to make a driving contract with your teen. This is a contract that you will create with your teen driver.

Both of you will sit down to discuss the various importances of being a driver and create a set of rules that the teen must abide by. This is a set of rules within the contract that both of you come to an agreement on and are set in stone regardless of whether your teen is driving their car or someone else’s car.

Be sure to make a contract with your teen so that they feel included, and list out consequences that are to be followed through with if your teen breaks any part of the contract. Having a teen driving contract will help your teen learn more about the consequences of having a license and being a mindful driver.

Whether you're a new driver or a seasoned racer, your driving safety means a lot to us at iSharing -- which is why our team has been working hard to bring you our newest feature, DRIVING REPORT.

iSharing's Driving Report feature allows all users to easily see their driving habits and track how safely they and their friends are driving. When a user completes a trip through a car, they will be able to see the driving report for that trip through their Location History page.

iSharing’s Driving Report feature detects the 5 following events:

Max Speed

Max Speed is displayed in the app in mph or km/h, depending on the metric you have selected on your settings. You can change between miles and km at any time. iSharing collects the speed of the entire trip and displays the highest speed from the trip

High Speed

High Speed in iSharing’s Driving Report is defined as the speed at which the driver and the passengers of the vehicle may be in danger. Because of this, high speed events are measured when the speed is over 80mph or 130km/h. It will not reflect the speed limits by the traffic laws.

High Speed events will be displayed by the distance in which the vehicle traveled over the high speed limit. It will also be displayed on the map view as a line in a different color on the path

Phone Usage

Each phone usage event is detected when the user interacts with the phone while driving. (i.e. when the driver unlocks the phone while driving or is texting while driving).

However, phone usage events will not be counted when the car is stopped. If the phone is fixed on a holder, not the hand of the driver, the event will not be counted. If the driver is interacting with a maps app for directions, the event will not be counted.

Hard Braking

Hard Braking events are counted when there is a big decrease in speed. If the speed of the vehicle decreases by over 7mph per second, the event is counted. Hard Braking will not be counted if the vehicle is moving at under 15mph.

Rapid Acceleration

Rapid Acceleration events are counted when there is a big increase in speed. If the speed of the vehicle increases by over 8mph per second, the event is counted. Rapid Acceleration will not be counted if the vehicle is moving at under 15mph.

Many families are getting back in the swing of traveling this year. With more places opening up and the ability to travel further than we could last summer, it’s no wonder more people are looking forward to a family vacation.

If you’re planning a summer family vacation this year, then you’re going to want to read on to hear a few of our best safety tips for families! We’re going to share some ways you can stay safe and healthy during your travels and summer vacations this year.

Summer Family Vacation Safety Tips

Whether you’re traveling with younger kids or teenagers, we’re confident these summer family vacation safety tips will surely help you enjoy the vacation with little to no mishaps.

Keep Your Eyes Out

Remember that drowning is silent. This is one of the biggest dangers of going on summer vacation with kids who haven’t been taught swimming safety yet. Remember that it only takes a brief second for a kid or adult to drown.

Be sure to have one person, such as a responsible adult, that has their eyes on the pool or ocean at all times when the kids are swimming. If you need to take a bathroom break, call the kids out of the water unless you have a second adult to watch them while you go to the bathroom.

Set Rules and Consequences

Just like at home, you’ll want to have some rules and consequences set forth for your family vacation. Sit down with the whole family to share what expectations you have for the kids during your vacation. This should include how far they can travel from the resort or hotel, how far out in the ocean they can swim, and come when you call them.

Be sure to have clear concise rules and consequences that will follow if the kids don’t follow your family safety rules for summer vacation!

Install a Family Tracker App

Don’t forget the power of having a location tracker to know where your family members are at all times. When traveling to a new region of the world for a family summer vacation, you must have a way to track each family member. Install a family tracking app so that you can communicate and watch where the adults and older kids are at all times.

Be sure to have your older kids install this family location tracker and discuss the rules regarding keeping this tracker on so that the parents know where everyone is at all times.

Bring All the Supplies

Make sure you bring all of the supplies your family may need during your summer family vacation. This includes extra face masks, hand sanitizer, first aid kits, and other important supplies that the family will need. Don’t forget about the sunscreen and anything else that your family will need while you’re away from home for vacation.

Be sure to have extra supplies on hand in case any emergency arises or you have to wear a face mask unexpectedly or similar situations arise during your family vacation.

Having to buy supplies at your destination for family vacation may cost you way more than just packing the supplies and bringing extra. You must know how to keep a close eye on kids while they’re swimming to avoid drowning occurrences and maintain proper rules and consequences so that the older kids understand what you expect of them.

We’re living in a time when so many people aren’t able to go visit their elderly loved ones in a facility. Long-term care facilities have been shut down in most areas so that families are unable to visit their loved ones. This has created a more frequent situation of long-distance caregiving.

We wanted to share some tips for long-distance caregiving today. Whether you’re caring for a relative that lives in their own home or at a long-term care facility, we hope these tips help you be a part of your loved ones' life from afar.

Evaluate What You Can Do

You may be able to change how your loved one is cared for. If you have the means, maybe allow your loved one to live with you. This will take some planning and a lot of meetings between your household and the elderly loved one, but you can evaluate what options you have.

Knowing what other options you have for long distances caregiving will help ease the burden and stress on everyone involved.

Host a Family Meeting

The best way to care for your loved one from afar is to have family meetings. You’ll want to meet at least once every other week, with every week being the goal. This provides your loved ones a chance to discuss any issues or concerns they have.

You can also use this family meeting as a time to determine adjustments in their long-term care or what else you can do to make their life easier and more comfortable.

Develop an Emergency Plan

Be sure to have an emergency plan ready for your long-distance loved one. You’ll need to know who is in charge if the worst-case scenario happens, and how the long-term care facility can handle everything with you being so far away.

If you’re not happy with the long-distance caregiving option, you can always find a way to bring your loved one back home to stay with you.

The costs of caring for your elderly loved one may be expensive, so you’ll need to do some financial research to make sure you’re able to support a loved one at home. If your financials simply won’t allow it, don’t worry!

You can use family tracking apps to keep a close eye on your loved ones while they live further away. You can use the phone and video chats to keep in close contact with them. There are many ways to stay in touch and care for your elderly loved one from afar.

Technology has improved so much over the years and become a huge part of our everyday life. Chances are that your elderly loved one will learn how to press a button or two to chat with you over a video message with ease.

Just talk to your loved one, and those who help care for him or her to see what options are available for you to handle long-distance caregiving with ease. Most facilities are happy to work with family sot help ease their anxiety and stress during these current times.

Tracking your child’s location is rather convenient. We don’t live in a world where children run off to play in the local community waiting for dusk to arrive as they venture home for dinner. Our current times are full of technology and children spending time in front of computer screens.

Since most children are off enjoying their time indoors and in front of the screens, parents have no real way to track their children. Parents can’t poke their heads out the door and yell to their child and hear a response. Those days are long gone for many around the world.

That’s why many parents have started to opt to track their children. With so many location tracker apps available, this option is simpler than ever! Today we’re going to discuss whether or not parents should track their children.

This discussion will give you a better understanding of location tracking apps and how this can be a positive choice to make in our current times.

Why do parents track their children?

Most parents use a family tracking app to monitor where their children are. Having the app installed can give some peace of mind to parents of teens who are out driving on the roads, working a job, or have a busy social life.

The typical reason a parent opts to track their children is to ensure there’s a safety net when they’re not with their children. This safety net is essentially the ability to tell where your children are so that if something bad happens they can easily inform authorities of the child’s last known location.

Pros of Tracking Your Children

There are many pros and cons for parents who track their children. Below are some of the pros for opting to install a family tracking app.

Comfort

Knowing where your child is will lend you some comfort You’ll build trust with your child as you start to see that they are where they say they’re going. This can also lend peace of mind to children who may be anxious about their parents being gone on vacation or late hours at work.

You see, you can share your location with your children too using a family location tracking app. This can help the whole family feel comfortable and safer in everyday life.

Confidence

Your children who suffer from anxiety may feel more confident to head out into the world when they know their parents can see their whereabouts. This helps increase your child’s self-esteem and confidence because they’ll know that they always have someone reliable keeping a close eye on them.

Using a family location tracker app to boost your child’s confidence is for sure one of the more positive outcomes of using this tracking app. One of your jobs as a parent is to instill high confidence skills and an outgoing personality within your children so they’re fully prepared for adulthood.

Cons of Tracking Your Children

There are a few cons to consider before opting to install a family tracking app for your children. Below are a few cons that we feel you should consider before making a choice.

Location Available to Service Provider

You could be putting your child’s privacy in the hands of the service provider that you’re using for family location tracking. Be sure to read the terms of use and service for the app before installing it. This will help you understand how the service provider utilizes the information that they collect behind the scenes.

Distrust of Teenager

Sometimes tracking your teenager could lead your children to feel less trusted. This is quite common and often a cause for delay in parents choosing to install a family location tracker. You can resolve this concern with a family meeting, as noted below.

Before you install a location tracker app you need to discuss this with your children. Teenagers feel more confident when they have trusting parents. Your intent behind installing a tracking app will ultimately result in a positive or negative response from your children.

As we enter a warmer time of the year for most of the world, many people are thinking about traveling. If you’re planning a family travel trip this spring, then continue reading for some tips to maintain proper safety and health precautions while traveling this time of year.

With the pandemic still roaring in many areas, we wanted to ensure you have the best safety tips to keep your family healthy while you enjoy a little mini family vacation this spring.

Bring Supplies

This year’s spring family vacation may look different than years prior. Make sure you pack ample supplies of masks, hand sanitizer, Band-Aids, and other first-aid gear so that your family is protected. Most airlines are requiring a mask for any travelers, but make sure you have your supplies so that you're doing the best to keep your family safe.

Install Family Location Tracker

Don’t forget about the importance of maintaining communication with family during your spring vacation. This is helpful for families traveling with adults who may separate during the trip or teenagers that are allowed to linger away from their parents. Get a family location tracker installed on everyone’s phones to stay safe during your spring break family vacation.

Create an Itinerary

Having an itinerary ready before you leave your hometown for this spring vacation will help in two ways. First, the family will know what’s expected of them each day and where each family member is during the vacation. Second, you can live a copy of the itinerary with family and friends at home so that there’s always at least one other adult who knows where you’ll be on which day and time.

Avoid Crowds

It’s possible to travel safely during the spring of this year, but you’ll probably want to take extra precautions to avoid crowds. Even if you’re wearing a mask and doing everything possible to make yourself feel safe, there’s always a risk involved with crowded events. Try to create a spring vacation itinerary that minimizes your family’s exposure to crowds.

Research Requirements

Many areas are starting to require vaccines or other testing before letting tourists get on a plane or enter a new region. This means you’ll have to do some extra research to understand what will be required for you to travel during spring break. Look up requirements for the destination, the hotel, and the airline if you’re planning on flying.

Check Health Insurance

If you plan on traveling to a new region of the world, it’s best to call your insurance company before you make plans. Your health insurance and other companies, like your bank, may need to notify them that you’re traveling to a new area. This ensures you’ll have coverage for health issues that arise and access to your bank for use during spring vacation.

Ask Your Family

Lastly, be sure to ask your family about their feelings regarding this planning of a spring vacation. The whole point in planning a family trip is to enjoy it and relax. If some family members are too worried about travel, then it might be best to postpone any long-distance travel plans until your whole family is ready to partake in this adventure.

With so much advancement in technology, it’s no wonder more parents are debating what type of apps they can and should use to keep tabs on their teenagers. This is a difficult subject for many parents because you want to let your teen go out with some freedom, but they’ll need guidance from their parents still.

Your teen may not like that you’re “spying” on them with a family location app, but there are some things that need to be addressed before you just install a tracking location app on your teen’s phone. Below are some of the best tips to help you navigate the murky waters of deciding for or against tracking your teen’s location.

What Should Parents Track

There are two areas in which parents can track their teen’s activities. You can track what they’re doing online as well as what they’re doing in real life. The online activity and location tracking of your teen are two different completely different things to consider.

Have a chat with your partner to learn what areas you’re most comfortable with tracking. It’s important to know that tracking your teens in real-life activities won’t be the same as watching what they do online. For example, your access to nearly everything your teen does online is different than tracking the location of your teen.

With a family location tracker app, you won’t know what your teen is doing. You’ll only know where your teen is during any given moment that they’re away from home. This sometimes feels less intrusive than online tracking.

Be Involved With Your Teen

Having a location tracking app on your teen’s phone will be easier to do when you’ve developed a close relationship with your teenager. If your teen knows that you have their best interest at heart and aren’t meaning to hover over their choices when they’re at work or with friends, then they’ll be more agreeable to having a location tracker installed.

The key to making sure your teen is safe is to always be involved in their life. Schedule a time to ask questions and listen to them about what they’re doing in life. They’ll feel more valued and respected as an individual when you take the time to hear how they’re feeling in life and in turn, you’ll be able to track their activities without much flack.

It’s a Slippery Slope

Tracking your teen is a slippery slope. This is the stage in parenthood where you need to let go a bit to allow your teen to figure out who they are and where they feel most comfortable in the world. This will come with heartache, raw emotions, and difficult situations, but knowing that you’ve done your best to keep them safe will help.

Tracking your teen’s location will help them feel safe when they’re experiencing anxiety about a new job or new activity that they’re taking part in. They’ll know in the back of their mind that a parent knows where they are so should something bad happen, they will have someone who can contact authorities or check in on them.

A working mom struggles with a variety of feelings, especially if they’ve gone from a stay-at-home mom to a working mom. You might feel mom guilt as well as excitement to have this new opportunity to advance your career. The struggle of balancing mom time and working mom hours is difficult.

While it’s true that balancing your parenting life with your working mom status may be difficult, it’s not impossible! Today we’re sharing some tips for working moms to connect with their teens. These tips will help you find creative ways to connect with your teen in between work hours.

Open Your Home

Teens are more interested in their friendships than connecting with their parents. That’s why you need to be the working mom that opens the door to friends. Make your home a safe space for your teen to invite friends over. Of course, you’ll need to set rules and boundaries with this concept, but by allowing your teen to have more friends over, you’re showing them that their needs are just as important as your working mom needs.

Say I Love You

Your teen is going to act like they don’t want your love and affection, but they still need their mom or dad to show them affection. When you’re home from work tell your teen that you love them. Perhaps grab your teen for a big hug as they run from the door to their bedroom. Figure out how your teen receives love and start showing that love and affection through words or physical actions, like hugging.

Eat Together

Whether it’s a household rule to eat one meal a day together or you simply want to do a random dinner date with your teen, eating together is a wonderful way for working moms to connect with their teen. You both need to pause for food throughout the day, so why not make eating together one of the simple ways to connect. Eating will distract your teen and allow them to share random information about their life with you without relaxing that they’re opening up and connecting.

Follow Their Lead

Pay attention to what your teen is interested in right now. These interests might change as fast as the weather does, but be in tune with what your teen is interested in right now. Perhaps your teen is reading a book and they just can’t stop talking about it. Read the book that they’re reading so you can bring more to the conversation when they talk about this book. If your teen likes video games, let them show you how to play the video game.

Create Traditions

Family traditions can happen all year round! Working moms often focus on holiday traditions with their teens, but you can make new creative traditions with your teen. Try to find a national holiday, like national pickle day, or something that will interest your teen. Make it a new tradition that you celebrate a unique holiday together. This is a great way to get silly and have some fun with your teen, so there’s no pressure to talk or engage with each other outside of the particular holiday you’re celebrating.