Limits to Privacy

Now, coming from me, my opinion on privacy for children is probably very different from adults point of view on it. But coming from someone who was just a young teenager a couple years ago, I feel as if I have a pretty good stand on the limits of privacy a child should have. Parents will always want to try to protect their child as much as they can, and a way some parents do, is invade their child’s privacy. Which is what leads me to my point on this. Most freshman in high school have phones or some sort of electronic device. Meaning that they probably have social media too, and that’s the number one thing parents want to invade in. As a freshman or even a middle schooler, I had social media. I had Instagram, and Snapchat, and all that other “amazing” stuff that everyone uses nowadays.

Obviously I am no parent, or know at all what goes through a parents head when trying to deal with giving their child privacy. But what I can assume based off stories and things i’ve seen, is that parents want to know about your personal life and what goes on it. Which is understandable, but when it comes to invading their privacy just to get to know them better. That’s where I’d draw the line. I just feel like there are many other ways to get to learn things about your child. There are certain limits to involving yourself in your child’s privacy. I think more parents have to put themselves in their child’s shoes and see if they would like if your parents was invading your privacy. There are some good reasons for invading your child’s privacy such as if you feel they are not safe or worried about them in some way. But going through their phones to find things or getting other people in on it will probably end up in your child not feeling like they can trust you. Or if the parent involves others to find things out, they will feel betrayed and hurt.

In conclusion, there should be limits of how much a parent can invade their child’s privacy. Being able to have your own privacy is very important because it’s a form of independence and children need to learn how to become independent as they grow up. I believe that a parent should never go through their child’s phone without their permission or consent or bring other people into a personal situation that is between you and your child.

“Privacy” by g4ll4is is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.