Keeping a digital tab on your teen

I know that I am going to stalk my son on his mobile device.

It will not matter to me how responsible he is, or what agreement we will have around his device or how old he is. I will be stalking him.

Mostly because I love him.

I am not alone in this. It turns out that most parents use monitoring software or at the very least know their child's passwords to check up on their digital lives. I know that he will not like this and he may feel violated, but I don't care. I am his Mommy, not his friend.

It's hard to think of myself this way - mostly because I am so focused on having privacy conversations with him now. Granted, most of these are focused on him closing the bathroom door, but we all need to start somewhere.

The day will come, however, when I will talk to him about why he doesn't get to have privacy on his mobile device (yet) and why it has to be earned and why I will be monitoring him.

And how it's all because I love him, even though he probably won't see it that way.

Do you keep tabs on your teen's mobile device? Tell me about it in the comments.