A Michigan man has recently had to face the possibility of a 5-year prison sentence for reading his wife’s email. After Leon Walker accused his wife of cheating, he let his suspicions get the best of him and figured out her password. He promptly and rigorously searched her email for any proof of cheating that he could find. Walker disregarded his wife’s privacy. Others – including snooping parents – should learn from this case and respect the privacy of others, including their own children.
Teenagers everywhere have had to deal with the scrutinizing looks of parents who snoop over their shoulders while the teens check their Facebook accounts, text messages or emails. Parents need to back off and allow their teenagers a certain degree of privacy.
Many parents think that they have the right to probe through their child’s belonging on a whim. While this is true when the child is younger, this grows into a problem as the child becomes a teenager. Teenagers, like adults, need their own privacy.
Parents need to realize that extensive snooping for little reason tells teens that you have little trust and can make them feel boxed in. That’s dangerous when kids finally go off to college and free themselves from the constant constriction. Suddenly going from such prying to the almost limitless freedom that college offers is mind-boggling and can easily lead to disaster.
Every teenager knows of a friend with parents who are so strict it’s suffocating. He’s the friend who can’t go out after 6 p.m. without another lecture on the dangers of drugs. He’s the guy whose Facebook account is littered with comments from his mom who’s just “tired of all the profanity you use in your statuses” and wonders, “What would your grandma think?”
It’s clear that the parents are just trying to protect their children by becoming a part of their social lives, but it needs to be conceded that parents cannot protect their children from everything. Eventually, something is going to bypass their careful watch, no matter how uncomfortably close they cling to their child’s every action. When that time comes, being independent is much better. Teens learn by handling their own affairs. This can only happen when parents learn to let go.
There is no doubt parents should be involved in their teenager’s life. Parents who give too much freedom are just as bad as those who are too strict. However, parents should know that they shouldn’t cross the line and invade their child’s privacy by constantly being a pest in their child’s social or private life.