When the time came for my eldest son to venture out on his own for the first time, I was nervous. Would he be safe? Would he get lost? Would he be where he said he was going to be?
I'm a worrier at the best of times, but my eldest also has a mischievous streak. A tendency towards risk-taking. And that made me worry more.
So I downloaded Life360 to his phone, and mine. The app works by linking phones together so you can see each other's locations. You can also send messages to each other, or click a map and be given directions to where the other person is.
We've used it to find my son's phone after he lost it for the 75th time. And we've used it to pick up the kids when they can't quite explain where they've landed after missing their bus stop.
What's not to like?
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As the rest of my kids got older and were given phones and the ability to venture out on their own or catch public transport to school, they each had the same app downloaded to their phones.
There are five of them – two tweens, three teens, three schools, many buses, and active social lives – so they're not always easy to keep track of.