By The Way...

Before I go off to mow my lawn, I want to deposit this question for your comment and thought: Here's a story on how schools are using technology to let parents check in on their kids at school, and also in their schoolwork. No longer can today's kids evade (i.e., lie) about how school was today when they were off ditching or avoiding that ten-page paper; parents get all that information online.

Let's not argue that parents have no right to that information -- of course they do, they're parents, and they're responsible for their kids and as a general rule should be participants in their kid's schooling. But let me ask you: As a parent, would you take advantage of this sort of information? Or would you trust your teen to tell you the truth about his/her school dealings? Is this even a question of trust at all, or one of control?

Personally, I'm conflicted. On one level I'm the sort of person who thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea to implant a GPS tracking chip in my kid -- just in case -- but on another level I do feel that if you don't show your kids a certain level of trust and a certain amount of breathing space, you're going to end up with an annoyed teen and then a young adult who is overly rebellious because he or she was watched constantly in high school. And that can't be good.

My inclination would be to say that unless I knew my kid was messing up in school, I'd probably keep my eyes off this sort of information. What do you think?

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• #4 Comment from pgalbreath6 
  10/31/03 11:07 AM | Permalink

  iam ,a grandmother who thinks this is a great idea , if u know ir child is messing , w/ up , ditching , or plain rebellion . but i agree w/ the too much knowledge can hurt a child, so it is a good idea . parents justhave toknow when to use it.patty jewel
• #3 Comment from aynetal3 
  10/31/03 5:34 AM | Permalink

  I was very cautious with the entry because of reading the first paragraph where they mention an electronic leash for kids. This is against all of my childrearing philosophies. I think the project is wrongly motivated in that it's a "parent's monitor." The kids need to be responsible for their own efforts and behaviors. In general we believe that information is good, but I'd give the ID and password to my kids and ask them to relay anything that was of concern to them.
  
  Ann
• #2 Comment from mrmrslover 
  10/30/03 9:18 PM | Permalink

  if my kid was getting good grades then i would probably lay off if they had good friends then i would probably lay off. but if they were showing signs of drugs or had bad freinds then yes i would check up. i came up with an idea. i have two two year old girls and for all the parents out there of young kids KEEP YOUR MONITERS, when your kids get older you can tape it under their bed or some other area
• #1 Comment from darksangelbaby02 
  10/30/03 6:39 PM | Permalink

  I have to say I agree with you on the trust thing. I am a parent myself, and I think unless the school has stressed to me that my child was skipping school or doing something equally awful, I wouldn't bother with the information.