Bonus points for any readers who realize that all of this controlling and monitoring (wittingly or unwittingly) normalizes coercive control, which can indeed carry over into their future relationships.
"And no, this parental supervision isn’t forever. We aren’t saying you should continue to monitor your college student’s or young adult’s private messages. This is just for now, during their most vulnerable years."
That's what you say NOW, of course. But if you think you are on philosophically stable ground, think again. Any age limit is arbitrary, and adults of all ages can be vulnerable as well. Plus, the constant monitoring of one's teen or young adult offspring is also as addictive as it is anxiety-producing for the parent, and the longer you do it, the harder it is to let go or even to phase it out gradually. Look at how many parents are still hooked on Life360 for their kids well into their 20s, for example. The phasing out of monitoring needs to begin LONG before 18 IMHO.
After all, we don't (or shouldn't) simply wait and then hand young people whiskey and car keys at an arbitrary age (and any age is arbitrary) and say, "have fun, don't kill nobody!" That would be insane.
Bonus points for any readers who realize that all of this controlling and monitoring (wittingly or unwittingly) normalizes coercive control, which can indeed carry over into their future relationships.
"And no, this parental supervision isn’t forever. We aren’t saying you should continue to monitor your college student’s or young adult’s private messages. This is just for now, during their most vulnerable years."
That's what you say NOW, of course. But if you think you are on philosophically stable ground, think again. Any age limit is arbitrary, and adults of all ages can be vulnerable as well. Plus, the constant monitoring of one's teen or young adult offspring is also as addictive as it is anxiety-producing for the parent, and the longer you do it, the harder it is to let go or even to phase it out gradually. Look at how many parents are still hooked on Life360 for their kids well into their 20s, for example. The phasing out of monitoring needs to begin LONG before 18 IMHO.
After all, we don't (or shouldn't) simply wait and then hand young people whiskey and car keys at an arbitrary age (and any age is arbitrary) and say, "have fun, don't kill nobody!" That would be insane.