Why Teenagers should have their Privacy

When you’re a little kid, everything you do your parents keep track of. Whether that be what you watch on TV, what games you play and who you talk to. But when you become a teenager some of those things you want kept to yourself and the people you wish to share that information with. I believe that teenagers should have the same right to privacy that adults have. Parents so badly want respect from their children so why not respect them back by giving the teenager their own boundaries and parents have their own boundaries.

Imagine this, your teenage child is doing something on their phone, say, a surprise for mothers day for you. Then you do a mandatory phone check. Going through their browser history and everything on their phone just to find out they were going to do something nice for you as a surprise and you have ruined it. What if they were having a conversation about something private between a them and a friend. Something that they feel very self-conscious about and don’t want anybody else knowing? You violating their privacy to access their private conversations and finding out about said topic hurts your child’s trust in you. When I was a freshmen in high school, I was going through a tough time deciding who I was and who I was going to be. I had private conversations that I didn’t want anybody else knowing about. Especially about my sexuality. This is something that I really didn’t want my parents knowing about because they are very conservative and don’t really like queer folks. If they found out I was worried about being disowned and having my reality torn apart. Luckily, that hasn’t happened yet, they still don’t know. But thats because they have given me my privacy. If you give your kid their privacy and they have something pressing about themself that they don’t quite feel comfortable talking to you about it. Chances are they will talk to their closest friends about it first. When they are ready they will tell you. Trying to force yourself into their private life will only make them push you away even more that they most likely already have. This has happened to so many children and parents around the world.

Parents get too nosey and try to let themselves into their kids conversations, and then criticize what they think their child should be in life. Not letting them decide for themselves. This makes them become distant and less willing to talk to you about even the most simplest of things in fear of being yelled at and ostracized. So please, give your kid as much privacy as you would give to your spouse or your siblings and your friends. They have their own struggles they are going through.

“facebook privacy” by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0.