Do you read your teen's text messages?

[Anonymous]

How old your teen?

Mine is 15. I do it about once a month. She knows and hates it. I hate it too actually.

[Anonymous]

No. Mine is 17 and I haven't done this since middle school.

At 15 I wouldnt be doing it unless I had a reason.

[Anonymous]

No. I never did, and I have truthfully told all of my kids that I will not read their text messages unless I have serious concern that they are in imminent danger of either coming to physical harm or becoming involved in serious illegal activity. For various reasons, I personally am strongly opposed to the idea of reading or eavesdropping on my children's conversations with others. If I decide I have to do so in a specific situation, I would consider it the best choice out of several bad options.

[Anonymous]

She's 14. I don't. Sometimes she shows me things friends have texted, but we talk enough that I have a strong sense of what's going on, and how she's comporting herself.

[Anonymous]

I don't read them, but have made clear that I have the right to read them at any time. I'm working hard to teach her that electronic communications are not really private, so she should never send anything she wouldn't be comfortable with other people reading.

[Anonymous]

hell no. never have

[Anonymous]

Yes in middle school, no in HS.

But my oldest son has 2 friends that are in lots of trouble with drugs and all their messages are monitored. So those moms tell me what is said/texted sometimes.

[Anonymous]

15 and 12 year old girls here. I never have. My 15-year old does show me some texts/posts that her friends have written that she thinks are inappropriate, so I guess we have a good rapport.

[Anonymous]

I never did with my eldest, because we knew her group of friends so well and she's extremely sensible and kind of an open book anyway.

With my older son, who has always had a huge social network, I checked a few times each year in middle school and was glad I did. Nothing truly alarming, but we had some good conversations about acceptable and unacceptable ways to talk about girls, the downsides of popularity, and (especially and frequently) why you should never put in writing anything that you'd be embarrassed for your parents, coaches, and teachers to see. We stopped checking texts in HS, though I now follow him on Instagram, and get reports from my younger extended family members about his snap chats.

[Anonymous]

DS is 14 and in middle school and yes, I read his texts and see what he's looking at on Instagram, look at his photos, etc. I've caught one major and one minor trouble spot that we discussed. As long as I pay the bill, the phone belongs to me.

[Anonymous]

I'd have to bleach my eyes.

[Anonymous]

Yes, occasionally. I have a goody two-shoes 14 year old girl and I'm still appalled by what I see. I wish every parent would check occasionally. I have hinted that a certain parent should check when I saw something inappropriate. There are tons of text messages but a quick spot check once or twice per month is something I would strongly advise.

[Anonymous]

Never but wouldn't hesitate to if I believed I had a reason to. Although i wouldn't even know how to do it now b/c their phones have been set up for so long that I'd have to reconfigure things or ask for passwords or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Never but wouldn't hesitate to if I believed I had a reason to. Although i wouldn't even know how to do it now b/c their phones have been set up for so long that I'd have to reconfigure things or ask for passwords or whatever.

[Anonymous]

I wish more parents would. I'm surprised by what I read on my daughters text. Suicidal teens, teens cutting, and a lot more I'm sure their parents have no clue about.