I'm the CEO of Life360. My own childhood was surprisingly hands-off.

Lauren Antonoff is the CEO of Life360 Courtesy of Life360 Lauren Antonoff is the CEO of Life360 and uses the location-sharing platform with her family.

She says she tried to mimic her mom's somewhat hands-off parenting with her own two kids.

Giving kids space can help them develop agency and independence, she says.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lauren Antonoff , CEO of Life360 .

It has been edited for length and clarity .

My mother was an awesome parent, but she was a person first.

It was just the two of us for a lot of my childhood, between the time my dad died when I was 8, and my mom remarried when I was 14.

During those years, my mom was parenting while also in school, working, and dating.

She was always there for me, but she wasn't trying to manage my childhood .

She didn't do homework with me, for example.

She made sure I was happy, loved, and well cared for, all while living her own life.

A lot of single moms might not have been open about things like dating, but mine was always transparent.

I liked that I got to do my thing while watching my mom do hers.

My mom's benign neglect helped me develop agency I didn't grow up knowing I wanted to be a parent.