What am I missing

[oigetoffmycheese]

So I have 2 teen boys who have phones.

I always hear about how important it is to check their browser history, so I do, regularly. They know I check their phones but they don't necessarily know what I look at.

I also hear that most teenagers have seen or do/can access inappropriate things including porn.

To date I have not seen a single thing that worries me at all.

Am I lucky, or am I missing something.

Is there something else I should be looking for?

Only thing I ever saw on ds's phone that raised an eyebrow was one of his friends complimenting someones bum, but ds just responded with an emoji.

I haven't looked at his phone for 2-3 years now as he was being responsible and generally doesn't get sucked into things he shouldnt, not sure what age that should be at, guess it will be very different for different children.

Mine are 13 and 14 now, both seem sensible and sensitive but the whole metoo thing as well as everyone's invited has really made me think
Parents of boys need to do more.

I just don't know who these boys are?

Evening bump

They probably use incognito mode if they want to Google anything they dont want you to see.

But I'd take it at face value and assume that they are "good". Which they likely are.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz What's incognito mode?

By incognito mode, do you mean private browsing?

I think they probably are good but hearing some stories maybe I am deluding myself?

I just don't want to be that parent who is blind to their child's behaviour.

Not sure what the best way to go through this minefield is

@PreparationPreparationPrep if you click the 3 dots top right on phone, you will see the incognito option. This will allow you to browse privately and doesn't record your browsing history

You dont need to be blind but you need to have trust in your kids too.

They can hide apps in calculators or disguised as an innocent app.

My son uses private browsing.

I don’t check his history anyway and am not sure it’s wise tbh.

Such a minefield. Regardless of browser history, it’s prob safe to assume they’ve accessed or been sent porn. Think it’s worth having conversations regardless about porn. I heard a dad on the radio today saying he’s said to his sons the best sex comes from a loving trusting relationship with freedom to experiment and play. Appreciated him having these conversations and teaching his sons so they have a counter opinion to porn and peer group.

Yeah I agree. We've had conversations about porn and inappropriate material online and they seem to get what I'm saying but good idea to talk about loving, trusting relationships in more detail.

Thanks those who replied. A bit of food for thought