Jesus Christ: NAZI PARENTS!

[trumad]

I have 3 children who will be teenagers in a couple of years and I can't imagine invading their privacy to this degree. Oh sure, you should be vigilante, but this is crazy!

<snip>
Tim Shea never took the "no-snooping" vow.

"I assume my kids are as devious as I was, and up to the same shenanigans that I was," says Shea, 54, of Orlando.

Shea and his wife, Cheryl, monitor Casey when she sends instant messages to her friends, though it's not always easy.

"They type so blazingly fast, and the screens are fairly small," says Shea. "I have a general sense of what's going on, however. I can tell when I walk into the room, if she starts closing boxes, she's afraid I'm going to see something."

Casey knows her parents are keeping tabs on her. "It only bothers me when they keep standing behind my shoulder and keep looking, even when I've told them what it's about," she says.

Shea won't stand directly behind his daughter and read her messages, though his wife does. "I'm trying to show interest," he says, "but not trying to crowd her."

He has, however, discovered a few tricks.

When Casey prints out her IM conversations and accidentally leaves them in the printer, he reads them. And when she leaves her cell phone lying around, he occasionally picks it up to check the incoming and outgoing numbers. He already knows her friends' cell phone numbers because he demanded them when Casey got her phone.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/kids/orl-livteenprivacy072404jul24,0,6704449.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

[jpgray]

1. Pretty extreme

I bet Casey is a wild child out from under Dad's gaze. :D

[trumad]

4. Exactly

The parents are simply making up for their inability to lay a solid foundation under Casey when she was younger to carry her through her teen years..... Hey, I'm not saying that you shouldn't check up on your kids, but to stand over their shoulder constantly will do more harm than good. These kids aren't idiots, they can out-smart the damn CIA if they wanted to...;-)

[Solly Mack]

2. such antics would have brought civil war to my house

I would have seen such measures as a challenge

[NewHampshireDem]

3. Try these two words, psycho-dad ...

1. Mutual
2. Respect

Without a doubt boundaries need to be set and kids need to be supervised, but those boundaries have to be reasonable for BOTH parties. The girl needs space to be herself.