anyone use the app teen safe?

If I thought my child was seriously potentially suicidal, yes, I would.

But, you need to consider carefully what you will do as you make discoveries that you might not approve of. Are you ready to have him committed to psychiatric care if he is suicidal? Are you ready to enlist professional help for yourself and him? Are you able to let "typical teen" stuff go without judgement, such as sexual exploration? At what age/point will you stop monitoring his texts?

Just be clear on why you are monitor, what you plan to gain by it and when it will end.

I would also let him know he is subject to being monitored but I don't know if I'd tell him deeply it is going since with suicidal teens the stakes are so high.

Mom, go with your gut. Good luck!

Yep! I'd do it!

I don't monitor my daughters on social media, but if their grades were dropping, if I thought they were being disrespectful to others on social media, or I thought there was something to worry about I would.

I am probably in the minority, but I think that if you are paying for it than you have every right to monitor. We told our kids that we always have the right to check their phones, so to make sure they think before they text/post.

Yes I would do it.

You can also try some other things while you wait. Contact your provided and see what features are already part of your service. Depending on plan you might be able to get information ranging from time and numbers texted to actual messages.

Also define if he is missing classes, or not showing up to school . Is he on campus? How does he get to school? Can you check car mileage? If not on campus, where is he, find receipts? Do you have campus police you can chat up to watch him leave and get a clue for direction?

I am the first to say suicide threats shouldn't be ignored. But at the same time, many teens are dramatic and say "life is not with living" . Try to gather specifics. Google anything you find - some might be song lyrics.

How big is your school? Do you have decent counseling services? Check in with school office and learn what they know. Don't worry about gossip of you think stakes are high!

Many experts suggest asking your child how they are doing. Including bluntly asking if they feel like hurting themselves.
Good luck. He's lucky he's got parents alert and noticing things are off.

I have mixed feelings about apps like this.

On the one hand, I do not believe in being sneaky and going behind your children's backs to spy on them. I have very strong feelings about building trust on both sides of the relationship and that covertly reading texts and social media does not engender our children to learn to trust us as parents. I do follow my kids twitter and instagram accounts, but both of them know it. They had to allow it to happen. I bite my tongue from time to time because I don't care for some of what I see, but unless they veer in direction that is harmful, I stay out of it.

On the hand, I do think that there are times that circumstances require us as parents to be more aware of what is happening in our children's lives. During those times, I think we get to take extraordinary steps to make sure our children are safe. I would struggle with telling them what I was I doing-but I know that teens will not bat an eye at creating a new, unknown account just so they can hide their activities.

The one thing I would encourage you to do while you are deciding is to take other steps. Take away electronics so that method of communication is cut off. If they are sneaking out, consequences of Biblical proportions are in order. Talk talk talk to your kid, ask them outright if they are considering hurting themselves. Consider counseling.

Good luck. Parenting teens is one of the hardest parts of parenting.