Argumentative Essay Sample: Parents Shouldn't Take Away Their Children's Phone

Nobody's privacy should be disrespected and/or broken at any age regardless. Going through growing up is a chance to learn and grow, one is making their own mistakes and fixing them by themselves. It's a chance to mature and become responsible for the next upcoming years of their lives. A teen in 7th grade, especially, doesn't need their parents going through their text messages. After all, it is not a parents responsibility to read messages between their child and someone else. Parents shouldn't take away their children's phone for these 3 big reasons; taking away the privacy of one's child, taking away other people's privacy as well, and taking away that comfort level between the parents and their child(ren)

Firsty, privacy is being taken away from one's child. As one's child goes through puberty, it is their chance to learn and grow from their own mistakes, not to be disciplined over and over again and threatened to continue to read more of their own business. Not only is the parent/guardian taking away their child's privacy, they are taking away their right as a child. Unless the child accepts their text messages being read, there should be no reason why they should hand it over. Some may say that they need to view to see if there has been any suspicious activity such as drugs. As much as this sounds acceptable, unless one's child is extremely suspicious, and even then, the parent should not have the right to read through their messages. In all, one's child is losing their privacy, especially during their main years of experiencing life.

Secondly, someone else's privacy is also at risk. Not only is one exposing their child's privacy, they are also exposing someone else's private information. Even if one child consents to their text messages being read, the other person may not be. At that point, it's not only to question the child whether they are okay with it, it is also to question the other person's information. If one child is okay with their texts being read, the other person may not be, it is an invasion of privacy if you still continue to go through their information. If that person did not consent to their texts being read, the parent is in no right to continue with it. Many might continue to say that they must supervise to see if they are getting bullied because things like that are fatal. Yes, bullying is fatal and a terrible thing that nobody wants to experience, but your child would open up to you on their own. A simple comforting conversation, instead of snooping on your childs phone would be much better for the both of you and for your trust, which leads into the next topic.

Thirdly, it ruins the relationship between the parents and child. The relationship with the child is at stake, the child might see the parent as untrustworthy and potentially become uncomfortable around them. Reading the texts of the child can make the parent, as well as the child, have different perceptions of each other. The parent might start to know more things about the child that they might not want them to know, or aren't ready to tell them yet. At this age, the child is developing their own independence and will come and tell you what they need to say at the right time. By forcing upon the child to read their texts, you are initially making the child feel rushed and all in all not want to tell you things anymore. There is a need to understand the comfort level between the person being told the information and the person receiving it, if the child hasn't told you something yet, that obviously means you're doing something wrong. Yet, people still continue to bring up the necessary need to check whether they are doing inappropriate things. This time, especially, is the time for one's child/teen to start learning from their own mistakes instead of continuously being disciplined. 

Parents shouldn't be reading their children's text messages. Privacy reasons, others privacy, and the relationship between parents and their kids are all reasons why we should put an end to the invasion of parents reading their children's text messages. To many parents their go to punishment is to take their phone away and/or do something to their device, this is wrong on so many levels. Children will finally feel safe around their parents and not rushed to tell them anything. Overall a better generation and children will learn how to parent their own child later on in the future. Kids will finally learn how it is to feel safe and comfortable around their parents. If you know kids whose parents constantly invade their privacy, do something about it, it doesn't cost anything. Infact, it will only do something for the positive.