By Sharon Miller Cindrich

Most cell phones have GPS capabilities today, thanks to the FCC, which requires mobile phone companies to come up with a way to locate calls for emergency workers and 911 calls. Even cell phones without GPS capabilities can often be located by analyzing the way the signal is picked up by surrounding cell towers.

The benefit of a GPS enabled phone and parent-friendly locator service may be helpful as school-age kids begin to stretch their boundaries and become more independent. It works like this: parents log into a secure locator service on their computer or their own mobile phone to pick up a signal from their child’s phone, revealing its location.

LOCATOR SERVICE OPTIONS
Many kid-friendly phones are incorporating a GPS receiver into their mobile phones and offering locator services in their cell plan packages:

• Kajeet, a cell phone service designed specifically for kids, offers a GPS phone locator that allows parents to set schedules to automatically locate a child's phone up to five times a day.
• Chaperone, by Verizon Wireless, also offers locator features, and their Child Zone feature lets parents designate parameters for kids. If a child’s phone signal is picked up outside of the set boundaries, parents receive a message.
• Sprint Family Locator service offers Safety Checks, a feature that lets parents pre-program times, dates and locations where kids are expected to be. The service automatically locates the mobile phone. It then sends updates to parents, via email or cell phone, on the location of the child’s handset, letting parents know when kids arrive at school or at home, for instance.

TECHNOLOGY HAS ITS LIMITS
GPS enabled cell phones offer convenience and a little more peace of mind, but of course they are no replacement for good communication between parents and kids. GPS technologies can only locate the receiver unit, and not necessarily the child, so they should not be counted on as a primary safety device. The locator might be left in a car, on a backpack or clipped to a jacket, but the child may not be at that location. Furthermore, the accuracy of GPS technology can be compromised by surrounding buildings, electronics or weather.

Establishing healthy habits for checking in via phone and sticking to a pre-determined plan and path is still the best way for parents to help kids learn good communication skills and gain greater independence.