Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment
20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.
Addictive Activities - Internet
[ Page 1 of 4 | print friendly version ]Do You Know What Your Teens Are Doing?
Did you know that parents of teens can settle down in front of the TV and instead of watching West Wing, tune into whatever their kids have been doing? I learned this when the Toronto Star ran an article about Spy gadgets for monitoring kids and CBC Newsworld called me to ask what I thought of such an idea.
My first thought was, “You have to be kidding. Parents actually spying on their kids.“ How, I wonder, does it work?
Imagine Sally and Jim Berry, the parents of teenagers. In the evening, they plug a tape into their TV set and are mesmerized as they watch their son, Jason, and his friends discuss the girls from school. They learn that Sheila is really hot and rumour has it that Claire will ‘do it’.
Jason’s parents look at each other in horror. What kind of conversation is this for their little boy to be having and what should they do about it? Well actually, when he’s being honest, Jim remembers just such conversations from his own boyhood and he recalls that they were mainly bravado and puff. Not based in any reality.
What about Jason’s sister, Elizabeth? She spent her after-school time on the Internet chatting with her friends. Unknown to her, all her messages were automatically forwarded to her parents. This afternoon the girls were involved in a long conversation about the size of another girl’s breasts and whether she had had surgery.
Page: [1] 2 3 4 Next >>
[back to articles listing]
