PARENTS. Do you think your children should have privacy?

[Reminiscent Soul Dream]

ℛ ϵ ɱ ɨ η ɨ s ϲ ϵ η ȶ xx Ϛ ѳ ʊ ʆ xx D ʀ ϵ ɑ ɱ ☪
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Parents.
Do you think your children should have the right to privacy?
If your child, say your daughter, had a private diary where she writes about things that go on in her life, her feelings, whether they are positive or negative, and other personal things, would you sneak in her room and steal her diary and read it?
Or a private blog?
I know many kids these days, especially teens, have diaries or a blog they set and keep as private, meaning only they can see it.
Many teens have these things because sometimes it is hard for them to talk to others about it. A lot of them work things out better when their thoughts are collected. Instead of taking out their problems and issues and feelings on other people, they write to calm down and make sense of things. However, they do not want others to see their thoughts, because, (from what I can gather, and from what friends have told me) they are afraid of being shunned or feeling guilty for things they cannot control.
Many of my friends tell me that their parents make them think one thing, and turn them prejudice against certain ideals whenever their parents discover their private/personal beliefs and opinions.
While I agree that parents can help kids with their problems, I think it's best that whatever kids write in their diaries/private blogs, should stay private.

Parents, what do you think?
Should kids have a right to their privacy?
Discuss:
Privacy in phone conversations, Instant Messaging, Text Messaging, Diaries, Blogs, Journals, Letters, etc.

[Orphan_Shadow]

I feel privacy is a must... at least to me since I often have to vent about people, things and other stuff... if say my father got wind of what I think of him and his hypocrisy he'd probably be motivated to act out in violence again. neutral

[Kenneth Hedin]

Privacy among the younger generation is a must in many aspects. It not only bestows and shows the trust that a parent has over their child and a certain line of respect, but it also gives the child a chance to grow. There are however even more flaws to this thought then there are posative's(Pro' vs. Con's).

The con's of such a thing include things like the child could easily get into something dangerous or hard that they can't fully handle themselves and as most kids worry what there parents will think they will not tell and often let it get worse. Children wan't privacy but in some cases it is to keep the child safe. Some parents can also be overprotective as well. There is also a chance that the chiild might not understand why the parent gives them so much freedom and might mistake it for neglect and rejection as I ahve personal seen and gone through. None the less, the issue can always be misread and misunderstood just as bad as a latin translation of Nostradmous.

[marshmallowcreampie]

I wouldn't have trust for my parents if I knew they were looking at my web history or something... I don't use diaries. Had one when I was younger. Within a day I started using it, my little sister found it and whined to my mom, showed it to her because I said my little sister was annoying or something. Now, I can understand if a parent was truly, seriously concerned that their child was getting into dangerous activties, but I believe if they don't have suspicion that they're doing a certain activity, they should leave their stuff alone.

[Akira Fudoh]

to a certain point. but not enough to take power away from parents to parent.

[this rainbow lover]

When I was 10, I liked to write stories in first person about rather depressed girls. It was just a phase I went through as a little girl. My mom found one of my notebooks I wrote in and thought it was my diary and asked me if I was depressed. I told her to say the ******** out of my stuff and that I would move in with my dad if she did it again.

Needless to say, she learned to stay out of my god damn stuff.

Moral of the story? Give you're kids ******** privacy unless they did something behind your back and can't be trusted. And, I mean something BIG, like drugs or drinking.

[Reminiscent Soul Dream]

ℛ ϵ ɱ ɨ η ɨ s ϲ ϵ η ȶ xx Ϛ ѳ ʊ ʆ xx D ʀ ϵ ɑ ɱ ☪
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Hm.
Trust is a key aspect of this topic that hadn't occurred to me until now.
Yes, I agree that if parents don't give children enough privacy, trust will not be significant in a family.

And with the cons of privacy, I also agree. Kids, especially teens, tend to keep things private and hidden from their parents from fear of consequences and other things, such as freedoms being taken away. But when it comes to dangerous things, like drugs, or criminal activity, or anything major in school, that's when parental intervention is necessary. At least, that's what I think.

But then that's where the problems come in. Parents want to make sure kids aren't getting themselves into major trouble, and then again some parents don't want to invade their children's privacy. Then kids want their parent's trusts, but then some kids don't want parental interference in personal matters. So, sometimes, we're stuck in the middle, like a rope in a game of tug o' war.

How do you guys think we can solve this?

Oh, and to marshmallowcreampie - I absolutely agree with you.

[marshmallowcreampie]

Kenneth Hedin

Privacy among the younger generation is a must in many aspects. It not only bestows and shows the trust that a parent has over their child and a certain line of respect, but it also gives the child a chance to grow. There are however even more flaws to this thought then there are posative's(Pro' vs. Con's).

The con's of such a thing include things like the child could easily get into something dangerous or hard that they can't fully handle themselves and as most kids worry what there parents will think they will not tell and often let it get worse. Children wan't privacy but in some cases it is to keep the child safe. Some parents can also be overprotective as well. There is also a chance that the chiild might not understand why the parent gives them so much freedom and might mistake it for neglect and rejection as I ahve personal seen and gone through. None the less, the issue can always be misread and misunderstood just as bad as a latin translation of Nostradmous.

Yeah, one time my parents decided to look at my Myspace. They said they found it and I asked "how?" and they said they typed in my name even though I didn't even use my real last name for my Myspace. They found someone else's Myspace and got on me about it because it was dark and emo and depressing and whatnot, and they never really got convinced that it wasn't my page (mine had dolphins, fool). Even then, I told them my page was on Private and you'd have to be on my friend's list to see it. Which they weren't.

[todpury]

Privacy is very important with kids. I think if a parent is worried that their child is getting involved with something potentially harmful, instead of leafing through a diary (which could easily be a minefield for a parent), they should set aside time to have a serious discussion with their kid. I think problems that many parents find solved be reading a kid's private thoughts often crop up because the kid doesn't feel comfortable talking with their parents. When I have a kid I always want to make sure that my child is comfortable talking about me with anything, and hope that by keeping lines of communication open I can help point my kid in the right direction if they get lost in some issues.

[Repellant]

Set a blog as private? Whatever happened to local storage?

Anyways, I feel children should have full privacy as long as their actions don't potentially harm other members of the family.

[Seattleite]

My parents never invaded my privacy, and I never invaded theirs. It was a marvelous system where we all trusted each other.

[Track02_restore]

What exactly is it that you kids are trying to keep hidden from your parents?
And it's not an invasion of privacy when you live in their house.

[I got bored one day]

Closely guarded privacy is probably the best route. Give room to breathe, but not to run.

[Reminiscent Soul Dream]

todpury

Privacy is very important with kids. I think if a parent is worried that their child is getting involved with something potentially harmful, instead of leafing through a diary (which could easily be a minefield for a parent), they should set aside time to have a serious discussion with their kid.

I definitely agree with you on this. Many parents nowadays just find it easier to find the faults of their child and punish them for it, thinking it will 'fix' their child. This is, one, psychologically damaging, and two, a wrong way of teaching their children right from wrong.
I think it's better and much more fulfilling if parents sit down with their children and have a serious discussion (like you said) and make sure their children understand what they did wrong and better ways of doing things. But in the process, parents should make sure they understand their children and why their children might be doing such things.

[cheetahtmss]

My parents looked through my web history once... I still don't trust them, and that was 4 years ago. Kids should have privacy, absolutely. Unless you have REASON, but before you go through their crap, Talk to them. There are SO many kids that are afraid to talk to their parents, and it sucks. I can't talk to my parents, because they've already told me they don't approve of anything I do. My parents don't even let me lock my own door, not even when I'm getting dressed, so my mom constantly walks in, leaves the door wide open, when we have guests and I'm trying to get dry from the shower. It's horrible not to have privacy.