High-tech tools keep eye on kids

CHICAGO — In this case, it isn't Big Brother who's watching — it's Big Mother (or Father).

Increasingly, parents are using high-tech methods to track everything from where their children are and how far they are driving to what they buy, what they eat and whether they've shown up for class.

Often, the gadget involved is a simple cell phone that transmits location data. The details get delivered by e-mail, cell phone text message or the Web.

Other times, the tech tool is a debit-like card used at a school lunch counter, or a device that lets parents know not only how far and fast the car is going, but also whether their child has been braking too hard or making jackrabbit starts.

Ted Schmidt, a father in suburban Burr Ridge, Ill., uses the cell phone method to track his four children, including two in college.

"Here's the story," Schmidt told them when he decided to begin tracking them about a year ago. "24/7, I can tell where your phone is, what speed it's going. . . . So (even) days later, I can look and see that 'Oh my gosh, you were going 80 miles an hour on the Interstate at 2 o'clock in the morning."'

It might sound invasive, but Schmidt is convinced it's keeping his kids safer — partly because they know they're being watched.

His 15-year-old son, Noah, who's been caught a few places he wasn't supposed to be, isn't nearly as pleased.

"It's annoying," the high school sophomore complains. "It gives the parents too much control."

The Schmidts' older daughters are, however, more accepting. Ciarra Schmidt, a New York University freshman, likes to know her parents could find her in an emergency.

"You never know what could happen," the 18-year-old says. "It's a nice kind of security blanket."

The Schmidts use a service called Teen Arrive Alive, one of a few companies that work with Nextel wireless phones and a tracking service from uLocate Communications Inc.

Other devices that track on-the-go kids include the Wherifone, a specialized locator phone that uses the Global Positioning System, and the CarChip, a device about the size of two nine-volt batteries stacked together that, installed in a vehicle, monitors speed, distance and driving habits.