DEAR HARRIETTE: My daughter just started high school, and her world has expanded dramatically. She has always had a good head on her shoulders, but I can’t help but worry about her a bit. She and her friends have a lot of unsupervised time after school. My rule is that she has to let me know where she is or where she is planning to go so that we stay connected. She hates this rule, but I know that kids can get into mischief without even realizing it. How can I keep her safe as she begins to explore her life as a teenager? -- Striking a Balance, Brooklyn, New York
DEAR STRIKING A BALANCE: The teenage years are a critical period in a child’s life, and parental guidance is important. It is also key for teens to begin to exercise independence. They will make mistakes, just as we did, but they need a bit of freedom in order to start making independent choices and learning from them.
What you can do is reinforce your rules about staying connected regarding her whereabouts. With smartphones, it is easy to text each other without her friends knowing what she is doing. A more invasive route is using a tracking app that will show you where she is at all times. They usually work fairly well as long as there is Wi-Fi service and she has the app engaged. A popular app is Life360.
(Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)