If the main reason seems to be that you want to know where they are when they've decided not to answer the phone... maybe that's fine that you don't know. If you're expecting them for dinner, and they decide to do something else instead, they should learn that consequence: if they don't come home when they're expected for dinner, they don't get dinner with the family.

I don't have kids, so of course my opinion is irrelevant. But I do remember decently well what it was like to be a teenager in the 90s. I was a "good kid" and didn't get up to much that my parents didn't want me to do, but a) I did do some things my parents didn't want me to do, things that they would figure out real-time if they'd been able to track me, and b) despite me doing things they didn't want me to do, everything turned out fine. The idea that I wouldn't have been able to do those things, and the feeling of being trapped and constantly surveilled... that's gross.

And... you mention spouse, too? I would never let my spouse track me 24/7, and would never ask her or expect her to allow me to track her. To me, that would be creepy and an invasion of privacy. I get that some people do this (and know some of them), but I just think it's weird.

To each their own. I share my location with my partner since I'd rather have her check the app than text me where I am.

She doesn't share her location because she thinks it's creepy and I'm okay with that too.

People are different, and that's okay.

Not that hard to come up with. Going to a friend’s house instead of going to any variety of scheduled things you usually do (sports, theater, whatever). Similarly, the classic sleepover at approved friend’s place but actually sneaking out to do something else that isn’t at their house. I can think of many more. Maybe you were a by the book kid lol

Ok, yeah as teen if I skipped any schedule things to go to a friend house, my parents wouldn't have batted an eye. Outside of school obligations, the rest was my own choice.

If the premise is that they have a phone, why not just ask them where they are when you need to know?

This. And also, the problem is people want to have too much control. You should build your society in such a way that if you lose control (a bit), its no problem. That is the real problem with tracking of parents and -for that matter- the security agencies. You should raise your children to be resilient. If they get lost, teach them how to get unlost. They should recognize danger by the stories we tell them and the experiences they had. Sometimes this goes wrong, and that is super sad, but things go wrong in life. There is no real way of preventing things to go wrong. We are now making sad human beings by putting our kids into a safe bubble.

Because that's an extra annoyance on both sides.

Extend this logic to other thing you should ask about, and you'll see it gets creepy very fast.