Big Brother is watching you!

One of my pet peeves about parents today is that sometimes they are over-protective and over-intrusive in their child's life. Our editor, Sue Fast, wrote in her editor's column (March 2007) about the gadgets that are available to keep an eye on our children. There is a Teddycam, Carchips and tracking devices made some humourous observations it does give me (and Sue) pause to think about our world and some of today's parents . Although she writes in a humourous fashion, the products she describes are real and available.

At what point do these gadgets actually constitute an invasion of privacy. We do want to protect our children, but sometimes the means does not justify the ends.

Yes, we had a baby monitor but we didn't keep it much after our children were toddlers and in their own bed. I have heard of cases where the baby monitor has been kept well past the “baby” stage.

Kids need their space and privacy just as we do. Would you like to have every word you uttered monitored by your parents? Respect is a two way street, we need to respect our children and their privacy if we are going to gain their trust and respect.

It's time for some commonsense parenting.