You're 14, life isn't that bad. Yeah you're parents are protective of you, mine were too at 14. You are young, if you really want to do things you're parents don't want you too, you will be sneaky, and you will do it anyways. That's what teenagers do. And be thankful your parents push you when it comes to education, mine were never ones to support me when it came to education, just expected me to do well, so I had to push myself. The day I turned 18 my parents let go of all parenting roles. And now when I come back from college, I can do whatever I want. Trust me, you'll grow up fast enough, just be a kid and enjoy it. Oh an no offensive but at 14, I'd probably be snooping through my kids computer a bit too. I wish my parents had have when I was 14, there is way to much shit you can get yourself into. (No matter how mature you think you are, because I thought the same thing)
Yeah, I can imagine the invasion of privacy is a really horrible thing. I don't agree it's natural or right. I would feel indignant if I felt I'd been snooped upon....
Caring parent or snooping busybody ? My daughters are 11 and 12, should I observe their actions on the internet or not ?
All depends on your perspective. I can only remember being a 14 year old, I can't remember, as I've never been, the parent of a 14 year old....
Well if my teachers dont trust me, The public dont trust me, My grandparents dont even remotely LIKE me, I dont have any close relatives... and now my Parents dont trust me either... And why? Because im a teen.
I think the teenage years, particularly the early teens, are some of the hardest years to come to grips with. It's a period of great change - most of all mental and social. Fitting in suddenly becomes so much more important. Growing up becomes a focus, becoming the adult you want to be, breaking away from the adults you've known, going your own way, doing your own thing. And then there are exams and success to think about. And of course drink, drugs, cigarettes, sex, fashion, music, everything else everyone else is doing and you wonder whether you should be doing. It's the time you find your feet in the world and you get thrown in at the deep end. Would I do it all over again? Hell no, count me out, I never signed up to be a teenager when I was born....
yeah i guess thats true i mean i love being a teenager bt I just hate everyone else for hating me for being something i love so much... If that makes sense. I dont doubt myself. I wont drink and i wont smoke and i wont take drugs... Fashion sucks btw "Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolorable we must change it every six months" Oscar Wilde - he cracks me up What i wish is that there wasnt so much pressure (by the press) to be beautiful and thin etc Not much to do with Teens but it affects us alot... Oh yeah and the fact that everyones like dropping like flies... Tonnes of people have died now. not good. Well ok im exagerating but you know what i mean...
I want to be anti social to spite them but then Ill just end up to be what they are trying to 'save' me from...
Protip: www.truecrypt.org Create an encrypted drive, install a copy of portable Firefox (www.portableapps.com) and presto! One unsnoopable browsing history. No excuse for insecurity Also, try setting a password. or running linux, like to see him find his way around THAT!
ey up lad... your not suggesting that your lack of experience in parenting reduces your ability to give a valid opinion now are you ?
Another protip: learn to love Linux. Parents who are complete computer geniuses more than likely only know about Windows, so download Ubuntu, Mandriva or Knoppix (liveDVD so no traces). Takes a little getting used to but I can almost guarantee he won't have a clue. Make your root password REALLY long and hide everything you don't want people to see in /root if he doesn't have the password the directory won't even show up; if it does just use "chmod -R a-rwx /root; chmod -R u+rwx /root" Yes, I am a linux geek...
I never really had all the teen worry stuff:S I guess because i was moving about and basically having to fend for myself from about your age onwards.(My mum was absolutely GREAT though. Not meaning to give the wrong impression ) It did me good, i was never particularly young in spirit, i liked the independence. Never noticed out of whack hormones or any of the stuff they claimed id get either. But i can understand the protective thing totally, who wouldnt be able to see their point? Ive had some damn scary and weird things happen to me. Maybe id have been "saved" a little from that if id been wrapped in cotton wool as they say, i duno. Luckily i coped ok Never been faced with the situation myself, but im guessing youll just have to talk to them, earn their respect and trust, gradually convince them and prove your maturity, and also take things slowly Dont be down about it, things are all good
No, I believe I can still offer a valid opinion, but it'll be one that's more likely to be shared by teenagers and less likely to be shared by parents. I've said many times before, I don't believe that experience is the sole source of knowledge. One can offer valid opinions on issues that one has no direct experience of, we do it all the time. But that doesn't prevent me from admitting that my opinion is definitely influenced in this case by the angle from which I'm viewing the issue....
Yeah dig all that, but I was after an opinion and you avoided it with the inexperience card. Is it right for parents to snoop on their offspring ?
I wouldn't say I avoided it with the inexperience card. I'd say I avoided it with the perspective card. :tongue: But if you want an answer that sounds less like it came from Tony Blair, I'd say there's a degree to which it would be acceptable if, say, you suspected they might be in danger of being groomed online in chatrooms and if you felt you would be protecting them by imparting your worldly wisdom to them. I wouldn't say it would be fair to check up on them every minute of the day. So long as children aren't in any real danger, they learn from their own mistakes as much as their parents telling them what would be a mistake and what wouldn't. And smothering them with overzealous snooping might just end up forcing them to try harder to hide things, and then you'd really be in trouble if any serious danger presented itself and you had no way to know anything about it....
I concur, relationships between parents and siblings should, like husband and wife, be about mutual respect and trust, never easy but at least an ideal to try and obtain. I will spend a little time asking my girls to share with me their online world, around that general discussions will involve net safety and the constant rider that everyone is a story teller online, its all make believe. Sure they'll hide some stuff and not acknowledge others but don't we all like our own little secrets.
