[theamk]

Don't your kids go anywhere by themselves? Or do they stay at home / only get ferried by the parents?

A bus-tracking app on my phone completely changed how I interact with public transit, and made it significantly better. I remember waiting for the bus when I was 14, and I would not wish this to anyone.

A maps app is great when you are going to less-familiar places - either into the big city, or into large parks (although not every kid is ready to be hiking in the parks before 16)

I spent all of my childhood with a (large and ugly) digital camera on my belt. Phone is much smaller, and for the kind of pictures I was taking, the lower quality does not matter that much.

[marysol5]

I once nearly had the police called on me for being missing as a kid.

Hadn't got the bus straight from school to my grandma's house, needed to go home first (walkable) and pick up something.

Missed the bus then that was due, and waited over an hour for the next one.

So I was now best part of 2 hours late, and I didn't have a phone yet....