Parents: When its comes to texting?

Question

and your teen [13-18] what are your rules?

How much do you give them?

Do you read their text messages?

Do you check when they text message?

Be detailed.

Answer 1

i get 500 out going and unlimiited incoming.

i think verizon to verizon is free so. its good

Answer 2

My parents dont read them, dont check, but my dad is gona give me a bollobking for the amount I send.

Answer 3

why would you read them?

do you hover of them while theyre on the phone talking?

if you think your children are old enough to be texting then they should be old enough to have some privacy

Answer 4

My children have unlimited texting on a family share plan. It's fairly reasonable, because we don't subscribe to mobile web or music downloads or that stuff.   I can access our account online and see how many messages  they are sending, to which numbers, and at what times.  When my daughter was younger, I took her phone away if I saw that she was texting too late at night or during school.    Now she is older and I don't watch it so closely.

I have mixed feelings about reading the messages.  I strongly feel that teens' privacy should be respected.  I would have been horrified if my parents knew about everything  I ever said or did during my teens. And I survived! Without them spying on me!   But I gave in to the temptation once and looked at the messages on my daughter's phone and was shocked at the sexual content of many of them - not to mention pictures I might consider p**n.   I did some research and found out that this is common among teens, so parents, beware!  

To read messages or not is a very difficult decision.  On the one hand, they can't get pregnant over the phone - it's just words - but on the other hand, I can't imagine that all this s*x talk doesn't have some negative impact on young girls.  I'm very interested in other parents' opinions on this question.

Answer 5

im a teen and my parents got me unlimited

they dont read my text messages because they give me space

and they trust that im not doing/talking about anything bad

and they dont watch my text message, but once in a while they'll ask me who im texting

but i usually dont tell them

:)

Answer 6

well at 18 they are an adult so not unless you are footing the bill should not do anything.  If you are footing the bill or the child is under 18 I would only start to worry if the bills are out of hand and your child's grades are off then would I start to look but I would do this in front of them not sneaky.  In this day and age this is how they talk, like how we used to sit in our rooms and talk on the phone.  they need an outlet and this is how they vent. The only restriction we had was if they were up in the middle of the night still texting we would take the phone away at night for 1-2 weeks.

Answer 7

my 16 year old has unlimited texting.

I don't read them and never plan on doing so. She deserves privacy too.

Answer 8

I'm a teen and I get 400 a month for $5.00.

No, my parents don't read my texts, I think that

is invading their privacy unless you suspect

something. Like, if your kid proves to you

they are responsible and not getting into

trouble, I think you should just let them be.

:]

Answer 9

This doesnt apply to me, but this is what a friend does and I like the approach.

They have unlimited text msg plan for an extra 10$ a month that the kids split and pay themselves.  They also pay a portion of the cell bill, like 20 a month I think.

The phones dont go to school with them, just to make sure there are no issues with them getting into trouble with it, as cell phones are not allowed to be in use at their school.

They 'spot check' the messages.  They dont go snoping, but sporadically will announce that they are having a spot check.  They do this when the kids are at home and right in front of them.  They check their phones, the numbers they are calling, their texts, emails, myspace and other type sites, other computer files, purse/backpack search, and sometimes room searches and reading hand written notes and diaries.  They usually dont go through checking all of that, but will mix it up...  this time it might be the computer and the phone, next time it might be the purse phone and backpack, ect...

They do it sometimes if they suspect something is going on, sometimes just completly random.  Sometimes they go a while without any checks, sometimes they have one every day.

I like that approach because there is not any going behind backs and snooping which in my opinion causes a lack of trust in the parents from the kids.  But at the same time, they still keep check on whats going on.

Some people would say thats a bad approach as the kids know its a possibility and simply wouldnt have anything incriminating.  Not true.  They have caught their children up in a lot of misbehavior that way.  nothing serious, typical teenage stuff, but..

Answer 10

Both my kids have unlimited texting with the notion of I pay the bill and I can and will read anything at anytime.  If they don't like it then they can pay their own way.