My mother is 68 years old and I am tracking her location

• Krista Hall, 33, is tracking her mother’s location.
• Krista’s mother, Ann Schwartz, 68, is also tracking Krista’s location.
• Krista doesn’t track her mom on a daily basis, but having her mom’s location helps her make sure her mom is safe.

This essay, as stated, is based on a conversation with Krista Hall. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I live about 45 minutes away from my parents now and still visit them often, but from 2011 to 2015, I only lived about 5-10 minutes away. If sirens went off near any of our houses, we’d always be like, “Hey, are you okay? That’s the kind of family we are. I’m tracking my mom’s location because I want to know she’s safe.

My mom is 68 and has always been a great mom. Growing up, she was always a parent and tougher on me than my dad. But he also did a great job balancing being a friend and a parent. My dad is a pilot, so while he still found ways to be heavily involved in my life, when he left, my mom was pretty much playing single parent. We are still very close today.

I started using Apple’s “Find My” app, then called “Find My Friends”, around 2014. I initiated the app download with my mom. At the time, my dad’s job required them to move out of state after I graduated college, and I just said, “Well, I need to know where you are.”

We jokingly tried to get my dad to join our family tracing system. I said, “You can see my location if I can see yours.” But he doesn’t like that.

I don’t check mom’s location all the time

I’m an only child, so it’s just me and my mom using the “Find My” app to track each other’s location. I’m sure my mom tracks my location quite often – although I can live without knowing exactly how often. I only look at her location if my parents are traveling somewhere, or something seems off.

For example, my parents were traveling this weekend and had to arrive at their destination at 1am. It was nice to wake up in the morning and see them safe at the hotel. Checking the app eliminated the need to ask me if something happened, and I didn’t have to reach out to say “Hey, did you come in okay?”

My mother has cancer and is being treated for it. She also has some mobility issues so she doesn’t travel to many places at this stage in her life. But once my parents had to watch my son and I realized that meeting my mother was taking a long time. I looked up her location on the Find Me app and discovered that she was on the other side of the hospital complex from the emergency rooms.

I hadn’t heard back from them, and when I checked again about half an hour later, I noticed that she was still there. I thought it was weird, so I texted my dad to ask, “Is something going on?” She was fine, but she had collapsed at the hospital and they moved her to the ER from her regular appointment to check on her and make sure everything was okay.

My mom used my location to check in with me and my son

Another time, I was on a trip with my son when he tripped and cut his head. Mom noticed we were at an urgent care and reached out to ask what was going on. I didn’t have to call her to explain what happened because she already knew we were there. I explained that he was fine and just needed stitches.

There was a time when I didn’t hear from my mom all day during her more active cancer treatments. I reached out to my dad to ask if he had heard from her and we had a miscommunication – he thought I asked if he had heard from her in the last hour and I thought he said he hadn’t. from her since she left for work in the morning. Her location indicated she was at home, so I knew she wasn’t with friends. I drove over to make sure he was okay and that he hadn’t fallen or hurt himself in any way. Turns out he was on hold for a call and didn’t want to lose his place in line while I was trying to call.

But overall, being able to track my mom’s phone relieves anxiety for me. If something seems off and my mom doesn’t answer the phone, I can easily check her location. I usually don’t have to do that extra step of physical registration.

My son is 2 so tracking his location is not a conversation yet. But when he can drive, maybe 16 or 17, I would consider using a tracking app like “Find My”, just to make sure he’s safe. Depending on the age of a child, I don’t care what I do. I just want to make sure I get home at night.

Mentally, there’s a shift between your 30s and 40s with your parents where you really go from feeling like they’re taking care of you, to feeling like you’re taking care of them.