Reading the past posts on this topic, I just have to voice an opinion on raising kids. I am now a retired teacher but I still work as a sub from time to time. On any given day, I oversaw 200-250 kids (7 periods, 25-35 kids per class) and a few parents who bothered to show up to mandatory meetings. The vast majority of the meetings it becomes clear why the child is behaving the way they do.
It seems that many parents have no desire to parent their kids. They want technology to do their job. I'll take an example from the 1990's when the "v-chip" came about. If you remember, the FCC required new television sets to have v-chips so that parents can block certain ratings on television shows. The rating system included: TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA. So if parents didn't want their child to watch TV-14 and TV-MA shows, they can block it via the v-chip. A PIN would be required to unblock it.
And here's my opinion. Many parents assume that blocking access to something, whether it is a TV show, something on an Echo device, or a password or a physical lock/key on the thermostat, would prevent a child from doing something they were told not to do. That just challenges them to want it more. And if can they find another way to do it without you knowing, they will. They will lie to you and say they didn't because, well, you created the proof for them. You blocked access to it and that block is still there. What parents should be doing is explaining why their child should not do something and the consequences of it when they already know that it isn't allowed. And rules are different from place to place. Like in a certain friend's house, you can eat and drink anywhere but at another friend's house you can only eat and drink in the kitchen. Every child knows the difference between right and wrong, and how to be good and how to be bad. If the child made a bad decision, they must face the consequences of that decision and be reminded of that for the the next several weeks. Let's say little Johnny didn't do his homework and lied about it. He got caught so he is punished by taking away his cell phone for a day. Over the next few weeks, if Johnny asked if he can go out to play with his friends, you might say, "Normally you can go play, but you lied to me about your homework last week. So you can't go out to play today. You did something wrong by lying and you knew that it was bad behavior. If you stay good (affirmation that he's been doing good) then you can go out to play next week." So a gentle reminder of what the child did wrong before will last longer than a 1 day punishment of taking his cell phone away. And the child will know that this reminder/punishment isn't arbitrary. It will end next week under the condition of him staying good. Hopefully by next week, the child will have learned something.
How is a v-chip, a PIN, a lock/key, parental controls, or any technology going to teach a child the same way as I described above?
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