Sometime back, I had a 2-3 week series for parents during Sunday School. It was a great opportunity for us to connect with each other, as together we try to influence your teen. Parenting is hard. Especially, parenting a teenager. I want to remind you of 2 things that I believe help to make raising your teen a little easier, and safer.
If I had a teenager that owned a smartphone, there are two things that would be on that phone without exception.
1). An app called "Glympse." This allows your teen to share their where. That's right, at any point you can look on your phone and see where your teen is in real time (and even how fast they are driving). So, when they say they are going somewhere you can make sure they are. Or you can call them and ask them why they are parked in an empty parking lot with their boyfriend/girlfriend.
2). Cell phone monitoring software. There are many to choose from, and they do different things. Basically, I would make sure that I had one that would monitor every keystroke from all conversations be it in text, facebook, snapchat, etc. Not that you would have to commit to being a constant spy, but it would allow you to check conversations when you are suspicious. I know some of you "check" your teens phone which is completely ineffective if it isn't random and even if random still isn't full proof. You do know they delete things they don't want you to see right? Anyways, here is a website where you can review a few options...
http://www.toptenreviews.com/software/privacy/best-cell-phone-monitoring-software/
Please don't ask me if I'm suggesting this because I know something about your teen, just assume the answer is yes. As always, don't forget to check out the article below!