Nothing much holds my youngest back
Now
that he's starting his final year of high school, it means he's 16
years old while some of his cohort are already legally adults.
I used to worry about access to alcohol, given how enticing it can be while a child's brain is still growing.
However, a story Eden shared the other day illustrates that many parents have other concerns.
A group of kids were driving home from Griffith when there was a wave of phone calls across the back seat.
An app on the kids' phones had alerted parents the car was travelling over the speed limit.
My son described how each conversation concluded with parents telling their kids that they wouldn't be driven in that car again.
It surprises me that helicopter-parenting is now akin to a drone swooping in on a child from an app on their digital device.
While
I am concerned that my son was driving in a speeding car by a
relatively inexperienced driver, my response is a sense that privacy has
been intruded on.
I mean, my son will be an
adult in less than two years, there are many lessons he will need to
learn to promote his own safety before then.
My
mind replays the many ways I snuck out of home or planned crimes as a
child, yet ultimately I had to take steps to be an adult that involved
responsibility for my actions.
I wonder whether
kids will be losing an opportunity to develop a skill, a bit like how
satellite navigation has impacted on the abilities of people to develop
geo-spatial awareness.
How do kids learn to grow up in this new panopticon?
