That age old question: is it wrong to read my child’s diary? One woman’s (vehement) opinion.
“I have been very clear in making sure my children have never even gotten the idea that they have a right to privacy in my home. Sure, my kids can bathe in private or close the doors to their bedrooms, but they cannot keep diaries locked away or drawers in their dressers off limits from me and the Hubs.
Why do we think that children deserve privacy? Why do we think that some how we’re betraying our precious snowflake’s trust by reading her text messages or his emails? I’m not betraying their trust, I’m parenting.”
People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Why My Children Have No Right to Privacy
– A humor blog about kids and being a mom. Saying the things people want to say. People I Want to Punch in the Throat.
Riddle from the Middle 
we have privacy to a certain extent but the cell phone is not one of them. we have strict rules on it. we have blocked Facebook and other messenging apps. plus not allowed to delete messages without showing us them. it might sound harsh but we have a different situation, I’m the step mom. mom is involved but is toxic. yes, harsh but there are lots of reasons and nothing good.
we don’t snoop in his room but if we ask and get suspicious we go in and tell him we are going in.
I think it is all how we each parent and grew up knowing what is acceptable. no matter what, we each have our kids best interests in mind
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You’re exactly right, each situation is unique with way too many factors for a one size fits all policy to work. I’m sorry to hear that about the mom. Coparenting is hard enough when everyone’s acting responsibly…having to maneuver around an adult in your child’s life who does more harm than good is exhausting.
We don’t let our son (13) do most social media platforms. He had (and still has) supervised texting at first, and we let him create an instagram account last winter. You can bet I’m on that feed all the time but he does a really good job posting appropriately.
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Personally, I think the texts are too far and when they’re a certain age… if they’re acting weirdly I completely get it but with certain filters and blocking facebook until a certain age or something similar would mean there is no reason to feel like kids can’t have secrets and go to further lengths to make it difficult for parents to find them out when it matters.
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I look at it as a parenting philosophy for every parent. I’ve yet to meet anyone who agrees with something 100% — we all tweak until we find something we can live with.
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I agree 100%. I’m all for privacy until I see a red flag, and I’ve said as much. But that’s me and mine. That doesn’t mean my way is right or that other parents should do it.
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I totally agree
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