Skip to content

Letter: Forcing your kids to respond is no way to build trust

Editor: Re: An app that forces my kids to reply to texts? I’m in. NOW Opinion, Feb. 4 It’s about trust. It’s about privacy. It’s about burgeoning independence. If parents only text kids when they need to pass on a message, kids are likely to respond.
cell phone iphone
Image: Pixabay

Editor:

Re: An app that forces my kids to reply to texts? I’m in. NOW Opinion, Feb. 4

It’s about trust. It’s about privacy. It’s about burgeoning independence. 

If parents only text kids when they need to pass on a message, kids are likely to respond. But if the kids feel suffocated by parent texts or feel untrusted, they may simply mute the phone.

Whether it’s listening in on phone calls, reading kids emails or diaries or forcing text responses, you’re telling your kids you don’t really trust them, and they will act accordingly.

It’s a question of working on the relationship and of trusting these children we are raising, not of forcing them to respond instantly every time we wish.

Kathy Lynn, New Westminster