To hate these secret diaries

[Star8369]

An advert has just been on tv for a vtech secret diary with voice activated password, aibu to not like these as they (I think) encourage children to keep secrets from parents

Aren't diaries always secret?

I thought that was a huge part of the point of keeping a diary, as a child or adult.

You are being precious
Sorry

You are being a bit precious. These diaries are not necessarily for 'secrets' - they may be just for fun or even (shock horror) for things a child wants to keep private. I started writing a diary when I was 8 or 9. Alright it was written in biro on a spiral notebook but the principle is the same isn't it? I was very close to my mum but I didn't tell her everything.

I totally get older children and adults having diaries just dont understand why toy companies feel the need to make ones that are aimed at small children

People have always kept secret/private diaries. Kids will do this regardless of whether VTech market them. DD2 has one ... after about a year of consistent nagging ... and it hasn't turned her into a secretive recluse.

However, YANBU to feel that parents should educate their children about when it is and isn't appropriate to keep secrets.

(Also, the voice activation is rubbish and everyone in this household has now perfected the art of unlocking DD2's diary by doing a terrible impression of her voice, much to her disgust )

It's marketed at age 6 and over, and requires the child to be able to type on a keyboard to write their diary. So the target audience is old enough to have a sensible conversation about secrets.

They used to have locks. It's a very traditional toy. I never wanted one, I trusted my mother. As a mother myself, I see now that this trust may have been misplaced .

I thought the whole point of a diary was that it was secret? Unless you had the misfortune to be brought up by my dm of course who took the view that reading my diaries was a perfectly acceptable thing to do because if I had nothing to hide then surely there was no reason to object. Which is no excuse at all for not allowing a child to have some privacy.

I really think it is healthy for children to keep some of themselves, to themselves. In any case, just keeping a diary really doesn't automatically guarantee that anything worrying is being kept from parents. Most of the stuff in my diaries was completely trivial. But it was my trivia.

the vtech ( purple / white) one opens if you blow a raspberry at it despite you setting it to open with dd1 saying open now or whatever it was she chose.

DD has one and all she can do with it is play basic quiz games, have a virtual pet to feed and play with and write very short notes - 4 ish words. No big secrets kept in that space. If she wanted to hide something that wouldn't be the place to start TBH.

I have an issue with the price, not the 'secrecy'. As a child, I think I kept up My Secret Diary for all of three days...

IIRC, you can open those things manually as well.

I remember my secret diary.

'Dear Diary, my brother is sooooooooo annoying, I hate him. Shepherds pie for tea.'

YABU.

DD age 7 has a secret diary. A fairly typical sample entry reads

'My favrit colr is blue, when i gro up i wil be a spy. Eva wint play wif me'

I think it'll be OK. She'd love the vtech one actually....

My daughter has one. My husband can get in it but I cant...I'm more concerned at his ability to mimic a young girls voice than anything

Children, like everyone should be encouraged to have a private live, and to know that there are things that can (indeed some should) be kept private, and certainly some things that should be kept from their parents.

Of course there are also things which shouldn't be kept secret if there's any duress etc. but I think a diary - allowing a child to share and explore private thoughts - is a good introduction at a young age.

It gives them a place to bitch about Susan getting the Barbie campervan - which is a perfectly reasonable thought, but not perfectly reasonable to share with anyone.

YABU.

I had a diary with a three-ring combination lock, and only I knew the number, and I could keep a secret!

I had a my secret diary when I was 6/7. Kept it up for a week.

Yabu and precious.

Yab comically u!!