Snoopy Parents

[cherryontop]

Re: Snoopy Parents

@somegroovychick

^ but giving them their privacy doesn’t mean you DON’T talk to them and keep up with their lives and their interests- it just means you respect their space and don’t go snooping through their personal belongings and reading their diaries. why is it always one extreme or the other? at the end of the day, you are their parent, not the other way around. you can’t stop parenting because your kids are teens and would like some personal space, and neither can you constantly be in their faces and refuse to let them take a single step on their own because they might do something wrong.

if kids are really determined to smoke pot or try cigarettes or have a drink, they’re going to do it. i would rather have them be able to speak to me about it and hear my opinions on the practices than alienate them by going through their stuff and creating a negative environment at home. if you don’t trust your kids, they’re not going to trust you. its as simple as that.

Nobody is talking about extremes here. We just said that it’s good to keep an eye on what your kid is up to at ALL times because you never know when they will slip and fall to peer pressure. Just because you need to know what they’re up to at all time doesn’t mean you’re in their face. I know exactly where my sister is up to and who she is texting. I am not in her face but I still keep tabs on her because I know she is a young girl who can get influenced by attention from boys. I don’t control her every move but she knows that I always know what she is up to. She still goes out to movies or lunch with her friends. I just make sure all the people she is going with are girls that my parents or I personally know.

And if kids do smoke or drink or sleep with someone, they will never come to you because they KNOW you will be upset and angry. I think it’s silly to think that your kid will come to you after doing something like that to discuss the aftermath. Usually it’s too late. Also, teenagers have raging hormones and get involved with members of the opposite sex at such a young age and might end up committing acts that they will regret for the rest of of our lives.

You might have been very protective of your space and that’s fine. But I was never that adamant about my personal space. My mom always checked up on me and my brother and we were ok with that. I check up on my sister and she is ok with it as well. She doesn’t alienate me because I pick up her phone and go through her text messages or if I check her email. It never created a negative environment in our house. My mom has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. In fact there were times when I was a teenager where I was tempted to do things but fortunately never got a chance to because my mom kept tabs on me.

Honestly, how much ‘privacy’ do teenagers need?! If they’re that adamant about their privacy, they usually have something to hide. Yes I might come across as a super nosy invasive person but if this protects my kids/younger siblings from trouble then so be it! They are my responsibility and it’s my duty to prevent trouble before it happens.