When I first heard of Life360, my first thought was that I knew I never wanted to use the app to track my two kids, despite its popularity among parents. Almost a decade later, I still feel the same.

But it wasn’t until my oldest got his driver’s license in 2020 that I realized my decision to opt out of this trend was helping to build trust with my teenager. And now, my relationships with both of my kids are better for it.

I prefer conversations to spying

Life360 is an app advertised as a way to coordinate within families, from keeping up with busy schedules to checking everyone’s locations. The app also boasts safety features that are likely…