Dear Editor,

As we all know, technology develops rapidly, thus teenagers are more willing to share their feelings with strangers via the Internet instead of talking with their parents. Because of the lack of communication, parents try to use fake identities to check up on their children through Facebook in order to know more about their children’s lives. However, I do not think it is a good way for parents to monitor their kids.

To know more about their children, some parents use false identities to access their children’s social media account. However, it is an unwise act as it will damage the parent-child relationship if kids figure it out. As a teenager, I would feel disappointed if I found out that my parents accessed my social media accounts without my permission. It is totally unacceptable. Kids also need freedom and respect. What parents need to do is try to build up a good relationship with their kids instead of knowing their kids by monitoring their children’s accounts.

Undoubtedly, there are some reasons that parents want to monitor their kids’ online activities. Surfing the Internet is a double-sided sword. We cannot deny that the Internet is convenient, but we also need to know the dangers of using the Internet. As a result, they want to take a closer look at what their kids do on the Internet and  whom they talk to. Hence, they use other identities to communicate with their kids in order to monitor them. The reason behind this is that they are worried about their kids meeting bad elements from the net, such as rapists or criminals. Therefore, they want to monitor their kids in order to prevent any potential risks.

Even though parents have good intentions in monitoring their children, it is not a good method. In my opinion, parents should have more communication with their children. Also, parents can cooperate with schools to know more about their kids’ school life. It is significantly important as children spend most of their time in school. Last but not least, parents should put themselves in their children’s shoes as thinking from kids’ perspectives will definitely help improve the parent-child relationship.

To sum up, it is hard to find the best way to maintain good parent-child relationships. However, understanding and communication are the easiest ways to maintain a good relationship. Parents should try their best to care more about their children rather than access their children’s updates on the Facebook secretly.

Yours faithfully,
Zhan Yichun 6B
HHCKLA Buddhist Ching kok Secondary School