Kids Are People Too

Hello. Quick notice that yes my English is very poor and my pieces are quite opinionated. If you can handle both of these, then welcome and please enjoy reading. If you fancy it, then leave me your thoughts and opinions.

Kids are not possessions.

Today I came across a Facebook post in which someone had detailed a lengthy story of their parents insisting on always having every password and constant access to devices whenever they so pleased. By no means am I anywhere near being a parent, I am only twenty-one years old, but I have a decent grip on respect and boundaries which have been taught to me by my own parents. I am very grateful for the way I've been raised even though I doubt I ever display it very clearly. I have always been able to rely on my parents in any given situation. A lot of this comes from the level of trust that has built up over the years of parenting they've presented me with. I promise I have a point to all this that relates to my title so bear with me. I never had to hand over my devices for my parents to go through and I was never asked for any passwords. I also never faced consequences for not doing anything that compromised my privacy. Obviously I don't have any children, but I am at an age where I can give an appropriate view of what it is really like to be a child or teenager that is put into this position.

When you put a consequence on privacy after a while a child will learn that privacy is bad. Children are venerable and will learn easily from experiences because of their young age. I only know this from reading or watching things professionals have said. Once you learn privacy is a bad thing, then of course you naturally become far more protective of anything you want to keep to yourself. One of the things written on the original post is that it has made the author much more anxious any time anyone asks to use a phone or a laptop. I strongly expect they are not the only person to have come out like this.

My reasoning behind being so angry about all of this is the comments left by a lot of parents on Facebook and a response from one of the parents in the text of the post. The general statement goes along the line of, "It's my house, you are my child, I bought it for you so I decide what happens with it, I'm not your friend I'm your parent, if you don't like it, tough." So much strikes me as wrong about this. I don't expect everyone to agree with me but this is how I believe it should be. If you want to bring a child into the world you should by far be their best friend and the one figure they know they can always turn back to and rely on. Myself and many of my friends are lucky enough to be on this level with their parents and we have all turned out fine so what's the big issue with being casual with your children? Boundaries and rules are acceptable yes, but they should be to protect your child not control their entire life. I mean how far does this go? Do you get to decide when they move out and if they do where they move to or how far away? Where does it end?

I see plastered all over Instagram now teenagers posting things which are subliminal cries for help. Being a kid may be harder now or it may be easier but you can never work your way into someone's head, only they know what really goes on in their own thoughts. A plea to the parents out there, please don't think that because your childhood was a certain way that the current average childhood is the same. Times change. Our generation's children will have different experiences too. We learn lessons in our younger years and probably still have many more to learn in the future but we can only understand that through the mistakes we make. To make those mistakes we need to know we have our protectors at home. Our real best friends who will still make you chicken dippers and smiley faces when you come home from a hard day. With beans on the side of course. Never forget the beans or we will never forgive you.

Thank you for reading.