It is the job of the parent to know what their children are doing and who they are friends with. However for parents to open their child’s email, to go through their journals and cell phones and to search their rooms is something which not many parents find to be acceptable. For a lot of parents, it can be difficult to know how they can and should be keeping a watch on their children especially as they enter into teenage hood. Parents want to know how much privacy they should allow their teens to have and when they should draw the line.
With a number of teens using the internet and their cell phones for every aspect of their lives, parents might begin to feel clueless regarding what is going on in the lives of their children. While monitoring might be something which parents don’t wish to do, doing so to ensure that they are guaranteed with a safe cyber space makes monitoring their activities acceptable. It can and is very hard for parents to ignore any suspicion if it does arise with respect to the kind of websites their children visit or with respect to them receiving texts and photos which may be inappropriate for their age.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of parents to ensure their child is behaving well. While monitoring the child’s activities may become difficult for some parents to do without causing tension, parental monitoring software can be made use of. This is certainly considered to be a better option in comparison to taking their passwords and to check their history and what they have browsed on a daily basis.
Trust is a very sensitive issue and once broken can be very difficult to gain back. Thus, it should be kept in mind that monitoring can certainly lead to a break in trust between parent and child. Kids need to know their parents trust them which are what will help them in making the right decision. Parents should make it clear to their children what they feel is appropriate and inappropriate behavior and that the end decision lies with the child. By doing so, the child will know that while they have been given the right to decide, they must do what is right and in line with what their parents would approve.
Child experts also believe that it is a better idea if the freedom to choose between what is right and what is wrong is left with the child rather than dictating to them what they should be opting for. By doing so, they will also be able to gain a sense of ownership.
With the kinds of activities which take place on the internet, a number of parents believe it is necessary for them to monitor their children while they are online because of the problems of sexting, cyber bullying and cyber stalking. Others believe that their privacy must be respected and that they can make decisions for themselves. Irrespective, parents are still responsible and should ensure they bring up their children properly so they can decide between right and wrong.
