Tracking cell phone numbers might seem like an odd topic to combine with parenting. After all, isn’t parenting all about watching baseball games, doing homework together, and teaching your kid how to ride a bike? We cannot be the same kind of parents that our parents were, because our children are growing up in a very different world.
Parents give eight- and nine-year-olds access to mobile phones. The main reason parents make such a decision is usually based on a loving concern for their safety. The child has the ability to call emergency services, the parents have the ability to contact the child when the child is not in her care, and the child can contact his parents at any time.
Most of the time, the child’s motive for wanting a cell phone is a very different story. With today’s explosion of social networking, such as texting, sending pictures, and the many social networking websites (eg, Facebook), never before have so many children said so little to so many people. Generally, as parents, we’re okay with that, as we try to be ‘hip’ and ‘intern’ (or should I be ‘sick’ and ‘bad’?). We want to promote the social development of our children and make them interact with the latest technological advances.
Unlike the good old days, when we had friends over and our parents were supervised (or at least they were in the other room), it is very difficult to control who our child is talking to on the phone. These phones accompany them to school, to their friends, and soon become a permanent addition.
As we try to bring joy into our children’s lives and maintain a minimum level of sanity, as parents, we must remember that love and joy do not pervade all aspects of life. Your children are still just children, and the same thing that makes them your children (ie, your youth), it also makes them the target of people with darker motives.
The point is that your child is likely to think his new best friend on the internet is a cute girl with a ponytail, when in fact it’s an overweight man in underwear who uses his innocent conversation to get a mobile phone. . numbers and start texting, not to mention horrible ‘sexting’ (where provocative pictures are sent to and from cell phones). This is the most extreme example, but it is meant to open your eyes to the dangers your son may be facing because of the freedoms he has given him.
As a parent, you should regularly review your text and call history (both incoming and outgoing) and identify any phone numbers you don’t recognize as safe.
- Talk to your child about any unsafe phone numbers.
- You can always call the person and talk to them directly.
- You can do a reverse lookup of landline numbers using White Pages
- You will need to use a specialized service to start tracking cell phone numbers.