Should You Spy On Your Kids With Technology?

I was reading a story I found online by Columnist Dan Tynan, called "How To Monitor Your Kids Without Turning Into The NSA". The technology to spy on your kids is definitely available, so should you be using it? If so, how in depth do you need to be? If you want to, you can install software on your kids computers that copies you on everything they do on their computers. You can turn their phones into maps to follow them everywhere they go. You can install cameras in your home and watch your kids from any Internet device, wherever you are. Yes...It's true. You can do it.

Kids might not like it, but it's completely legal for a parent to monitor their minor children. If you decide to use technology to monitor your kids, here are a few simple rules that you should have in place.

DON'T BE SNEAKY ABOUT IT

There needs to be a certain amount oftrust between a parent and a child. If you decide to use technology to monitor your kids, you should let them know that you are monitoring them, and why you have made the decision to do so.

START EARLY IN THEIR LIVES

If you plan to be involved in your kids’ digital life (and you should), you need to start as early as possible to establish the ground rules, so they don’t come as an unwelcome surprise in their teen years. They won't take well to this kind of change.

DON'T BE OBSESSIVE

You can read and watch everything your children are doing, but just because you can, it doesn't mean that you should do it. Draw clear boundaries, and then redraw them later as the kids mature. Sometimes just knowing that you’re monitoring them may be enough to deter them from oversharing or venturing too far into the dark side of the Internet. When monitoring with cameras, you should keep cams out of private spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms... and us them in places such as doorways and common areas.

TEST IT OUT

Your children need to understand that you are trying to protect them, not hurt them by monitoring their use. Talk with your kids about what scares you about the internet, and consider monitoring them every now and then, not every day.