At what age would you think it is acceptable not to know your child's passcode on their phone....?

[SmallDucks]

15?
17?
18?
older? Younger?

Ds2 13 I don't know his. If I needed to, which I don't, I'd ask him.

Under 16 year olds cannot have consensual sex.

The police aren't interested in two 14 year olds, two 15 year olds or a 14 and 15 year old having consensual sex.

I remember being abroad in a country where the age of consent is 13. It was explained to me that it was fine for two teens about the same age to have sex if they wanted but if it was a 23 year old and a 13 year old the older one would be in lots of trouble...

I only insist on knowing my 12 year olds code. But my 19 and 21 year olds told me theirs. No idea why, apparently its a just in case situation.

Now that would have had me checking my DD1's phone until she was 22 because of her years at university (from age 18 - 22).

Like very many parents of university students, I continued to pay for her phone contract during those years and she took it over herself a few months afterwards when she began working.

So should I have been checking her phone from age 18 until 22? Bollocks. Like fuck would she have let me (and nor should she have been expected to).

*their

And, I was one of the ones who said 18. It's nothing to do with not trusting my kid (who is now grown), and in fact I never checked her phone because I never felt the need to. But she knew I could ask to check it at any time without warning, and that if she refused she would lose her phone. Knowing that, I felt, was enough incentive for her to make sensible decisions with regard to her phone.

Mine are 15 and 16 and I do know their passcodes but I haven’t looked on their phones for years. I trust them. If I didn’t they wouldn’t have phones .

It largely depends on the child.

No child is immune from being vulnerable or doing something stupid online, but some are more so than others, much more.

I have one ultra sensible teen and one who is pretty much the complete opposite. The latter one no longer has access to a phone.

@Anonymous48 you would take your 17 year old DC phone without warning? How bizarre. At 16 you can do most things (move out, have sexual relationships etc) so I think you should be entitled to some privacy - would you read THEIR diary at 17/18??

Yes, I absolutely would, if I thought there was a reason to. I own and pay for their phone. That's nowhere near the same as saying they aren't entitled to privacy. Completely different to reading a diary! Can you really not see that?

Where I live you can't legally have sexual relationships at age 16 anyway, so that point is irrelevant.