I Bet Your Kids Are Being Sneaky

I feel like I’m pretty “with it” as far as technological trends go. I have a smart phone, I’m on facebook, twitter and many other social apps. I try to stay with the trends and know about them. Often times, I’m on some media platforms before my kids.

But it’s getting harder and harder to keep up.

The freedoms our kids have, and the access to those freedoms is amazing. We can set boundaries, implement rules, and think we are on top of things – but still, there are new avenues and freedoms becoming available to them all of the time.

For instance. You can check your child’s phone. But do you know they can text from their ipod? There are many texting apps they can get.

You can check the photos on their phone or ipod. But do you know about snapchat? It’s an app that lets them send photos that someone can only see for a max of 12 seconds. (Even though someone can take a screenshot in those 12 seconds of that photo.)

You can be their friends on facebook and have access to their password and profile page. But do you know many teens are now getting on twitter to have conversations?

This is the world we live in. It’s not going away anytime soon. You have to be on top of things and even being on top of things doesn’t mean you can protect your child from everything.

Most kids aren’t trying to get into trouble. They just don’t want mom and dad to see them talking about that boy, or the drama they have at times with their friends. It’s not always something indecent or inappropriate that they are trying to hide from you. Although it could be.

We can’t check on everything. It’s impossible. For once you think you have something regulated, another new option comes up that hasn’t been discussed.

So what’s a mom or dad to do? How can you possibly protect your kids?

I still firmly believe in guidelines, rules, and boundaries. But since you can’t think of every app that’s going to come up and can only address those when made aware of them – the best thing to do is to go after your child’s heart. Make them WANT to clue you in on what they are using.  Give them the tools to know how to implement their own boundaries and guidelines and to listen to that inner voice that tells them, “this probably isn’t a good idea without supervision.” 

Hopefully we can have a relationship with our kids, that is strong. We can give them wisdom, discernment and integrity so that we won’t have to worry so much about what they are doing, and where. We will trust that they have good instincts.

All our kids want is to be like their peers. And to have freedom. What every kid has always wanted. But they don’t realize just HOW much freedom they have these days because they were born into it. This is all they know.

All these technological advances are a load of fun. I’ll admit. I have a blast with some of the new things created. But they are also aimed right at our kids and encouraging them to be sneaky and to live in a world that mom or dad isn’t a part of. Be a part of it. Participate.  Know what it’s all about. Talk. Love. And pray.