Let Goofy Track Your Children

Rio writes "The Walt Disney Company unveiled a new wireless phone service that allows parents to track their children on a map using Global Positioning System technology, according to Local 6 News. The new "family friendly" service, called Disney Mobile, allows parents to decide who their children can call and when, the report said. The phone service will launch in June and has not been priced yet."

Comments

Kids privacy rights:

[hummassa]

Up to age of twelve: none whatsoever. Kids of that age are still prone to do things and talk to people they should not. They may have _one_ or _two_ harmless secrets; parents who know how to do stuff keep always one of them "in the loop", so while the other does _not_ know the secret, it knows it's a harmless one. Children must be encouraged to be frank at all times, but _especially_ with their parents.

Up to age of sixteen: some privacy. Kids must change their clothes without parents coming. Thirteen year-olds of either sex have the sacred right of masturbating. They can have private conversations with people of the same age. They can keep some secrets, or chose not to tell some things (like they had sex with a person of the same age) up to a most adequate moment -- but they do not have the right to conceal that they are breaking the household rules.

Up to the age of eighteen (emancipation age on your jurisdiction here): good privacy. They are young adults that have the right of doing anything that is not forbidden by the household rules. They do _not_ have the right to break the rules. (At my jurisdiction at least) Parents cannot throw them out the door, so they must live under the book. They can be grounded and their privacy can be revoked in case of disobedience.

From there: they are adults. They can break the rules of the household, provided they work and get their own money and get out of the house. They are entitled to the highest level of privacy: nothing should be broken without probable cause. And it's a police matter, not a parental one.

Yes, I have a 6yo boy and a newborn baby girl. This are my parenting rules, and my boy knows them by heart. We are friendly with each other; I deal with his mistakes in a friendly manner. He trusts me that an eventual punishment will always be proportional to his misbehaviour. And he trusts that I love him. I think I can pull it off.

Re:So I guess...

[Reality Master 101]

So what if your kid is intentionally bad about recharging his phone? What if they are good about it and simply forget?

Either way, it doesn't matter. They get punished until they do remember. It's called "discipline" and "responsibility". Just like in the real world, there are consequences to one's actions.

At what point are you going to stop invading your kids privacy?

College. At the point that I'm no longer responsible for them and responsible for teaching them right and wrong. Kids have no right to privacy.

Certain kids are going to requir special circumstances but mostly you are just going to have to form a trusting relationship with your kids by the time they would be doing things like the grandparent mentioned.

Trust is a two-way street. If they're good about informing me where they are and what they're doing, I'll probably be a bit looser with the reigns. But I'm a firm believer in the old adage, "trust, but verify".

My kids are currently 4 and 6, so this is not theoretical (like I suspect it is for you). There is no way I'm going to be a "modern parent" that lets their kids run wild and be so intimidated by them that they're never parents to their kids.

Kids need boundaries. And since they're kids, they'll test them, and my job is to make sure they're healthy, happy and loved by the time they leave the nest.

Guess what? I intend to randomly drug test when they get to be teenagers, too. (and they'll thank me for it, because it gives them a built-in excuse to tell their druggie friends, 'nah, I can't, my parents drug test.')

You know, it's funny. If you read biographies of famous people, ones that had strong and disciplining parents never complain about it, they're always thankful (obviously I'm not talking about emotionally or physically abusive parents).

Lots of love, lots of discipline. Both are important.