Caught in the Act: How I Found Out About My Child Sneaking Out After Hours

My elder son, 14, has always been a troublemaker of sorts. When he was younger, his antics were harmless, funny even. However, as he grew older, he began to have trouble with rules and regulations. At first, we thought, it’s a phase that shall pass. But things went downhill with time.

Let me give you some background. Due to my work obligations, we had to relocate. The move was really hard on him. Things got worse from there. He was not adjusting at school, his grades were falling. He became withdrawn and started isolating himself. My wife and I were troubled by his frequent outbursts of anger.

This was affecting our younger one as well. After a few months, these kinds of episodes subsided a little. He made a couple of friends at school as well. But much to our dismay, it was a group of rowdy kids who were into all sorts of wrong things such as staying out late, bunking school, shoplifting, etc. Not really knowing what to do, we thought to put strict rules in place, like grounding him and setting curfews. We strictly forbade him from seeing these friends of his.

Surprisingly, he agreed. But knowing my son, I know he couldn’t have just stopped. Lately, I had noticed that he enjoyed making us angry and worried like this. Upon a friend’s recommendation, I was able to get a subscription to a parental monitoring program that I was able to install on his phone after a lot of effort. He is extremely possessive of his phone.

This program functioned in the background. And not only did it let me monitor his digital activities, such as the content he views on the internet, emails, and messages, I could see his real-time location and location history too. I could get alerts on particular words and locations. I marked suspicious areas and waited. Much to my horror, not only was my son bunking school, but he was also sneaking out at night. One night, I caught him in the act.

It was awful. He accused me of invading his privacy and not trusting him. What else could I have done? It was a horrible shouting match. Sure, parenting is hard. But nobody prepares you for the horrors of bringing up a rebellious teenager.

What Parents Should Know About Parental Monitoring?

Teenagers go through a period of fast development, exploration, and risk-taking. Young people may put their talents and abilities to the test and learn more about themselves by taking risks.

However, some hazards, such as smoking, taking drugs, driving under influence (DUI), and having unprotected sex, can impair a teen's health and well-being. In the lives of their children, parents have a significant impact.

Parents may decrease their teen's risk of injury by keeping track of what they're doing, who they're with, and where they're going. They can also set clear expectations for conduct and check in regularly to ensure these expectations are being followed. Parents should carefully monitor their children's activities.

What Can Parents Do to Properly Supervise Their Teenagers?

1. Discuss your rules and expectations with your teen, as well as the repercussions of not following them.
2. Talk to your teen about how they feel and what they are regularly thinking, and listen to what they have to say.
3. You should be aware of your teen's social circles.
4. Discuss your teen's plans with friends, what they will be doing after school, and where they will be heading with you.
5. Set expectations for when your kid will return home, and be prepared to receive a call if they are late.
6. When your teen goes to a friend's house, ask whether there will be an adult present.
7. Learn about the partner or girlfriend of your adolescent.
8. Become acquainted with the parents of your teen's peers.
9. Consult your family, neighbors, teen instructors, and other people who are familiar with them. Inquire about their observations of your teen's behavior, moods, or social interactions.
10. Keep an eye on how your adolescent manages their finances.
11. Please keep track of your teen's online activities and talk to them about using the Internet securely.
12. Observe your kid's mood swing and conduct at home, and talk to them about any concerns you have.
13. If your adolescent violates a rule, make sure the sanctions are applied consistently and fairly.
14. Make sure your adolescent always knows how to reach you.

How Can Parents Keep Track of Their Adolescent Children?

Parental supervision is most effective when parents and their children have positive, open, and loving interactions. Teens are more likely to talk to their parents if they believe they can trust them, have good counsel to provide, and are open to listen and talk to them.

Teens who are content with their parent-child interactions are more likely to obey the rules. Listening, asking questions, soliciting ideas, providing support and appreciation, and being active in your adolescent's life are all ways to foster a loving connection with your kid.

Apps to Monitor Kids—What Are They?

XNSPY is an app that makes parental monitoring much easy. You can make use of such apps to monitor kids from your laptop, whether they use an Android or an iPhone. It's likely a little confusing right now, so keep reading as we go over the application in further depth. XNSPY is a real-time cell phone tracker that allows you to access your child's phone from anywhere. It all comes with all the necessary controls like blocking specific applications, locking the device, recording surroundings, wiping all data, and taking screenshots without the user's awareness.

Essentially, it is a parental monitoring app to track kids' phone activities so that you can see what they're up to and protect and warn them before it's too late if they're in danger. As a result, for proactive parents, this app is a must-have. Now let's see what makes XNSPY one of the best apps to monitor kids and what it has to offer in terms of features, packages, and services.

The app works with all Android and iPhone operating systems. For XNSPY to operate, iOS devices must be running iOS 7.0 or above, and Android smartphones must be running Android 4.0 or higher. XNSPY presently offers three different types of packages. You can subscribe to either the basic or premium editions, depending on the features you want to use. If you want to change packages after your subscription ends, you can do so at any time.

Some of Its Notable Features Are:

1. It comes with a user interface that is simple to use.
2. Call logs are easily accessible, and you can keep track of incoming, outgoing, and missed calls.
3. You may obtain access to social media messengers and see the complete conversation history and the names of the individuals with whom you have exchanged messages.
4. The device's GPS position is shown on the monitor via the control panel.
5. With an activity punch card, you can see the device's top 5 callers and top 5 call durations, as well as when the device's most calls are made and received.
6. You can access your emails, and the program keeps track of your internet activity by presenting all of the websites you've visited.
7. The photographs and videos saved in the device's storage and all the essential and personal entries made in the calendar may be accessed through the control panel.

8. You can add certain phrases, places, and contacts to the watchlist to filter out specific data that the user wishes to keep track of.
9. Whether it's a new location check-in or an iCloud backup update, Xnspy users are immediately notified through email.
10. The application is completely undetectable. The app will not be visible to the targeted device user, nor will it appear on their device.