I thought it was and I kinda felt bad cause my daughter cried about it and she said that parents don't do that.  Boy did I have a shock of my life when I read some texting.  I felt like I was not up to date with her friends and stuff.  I also told her that if I pay for the phone than I have every right to read her texting.  Well she has stop some of the vulger she has texted.

I'm a father of a 16 yo and just added texting to his phone.  I was saddened and alarmed to read some of his stuff which i think is 100% correct and our obligation as parents.  What bothers me is that US Cellular, and possibly other carriers, require a subpoena to get a print out of teh texts which are only saved for 3-5 days.  I was told you can request them to be saved longer, but you must do so in writing.  My son locked his phone so I cannot read them.  However, if I have to, I will bring teh phone to the local USC office and they will unlock it.

I pray the Lord will watch over our children and give us the wisdom we need.

Absolutely it is not wrong to read your teen's text.   We need to watch with all alertness.  If nothing else we need to know what other's are texting our children.   I read them every night.  I have no guilt about it at all. 

As a mom of a 15 yo boy, I most definitely do read his text. He didn't like it at first and tried the whole locking the phone and I told him that I would have the service disconnected. He unlocked it. We need to be proactive as parents. Todays society is trying to lead our kids astray. It is our job as parents to teach our kids the things that Jesus would have them do. That includes language and attitudes used while texting, or on the internet.

That is a perfect question and antedote (from Phred)...Kid: "Did you read my texts"? Parent: "Why, is there something there I shouldn't see...If so, then you better delete it".

Letting them know, right up front, that: a) you will always have unlimited access to the text services (that you provide to them) and b) that this is a privilege...subject to removal (as appropriate) is ONE way to keep teen text content within reasonable limits. But, the issue I am now facing is:

1.  How much is too much (access/usage)? One, two hours/day...if chores & school are complete? Only on weekends? As, ANY restriction seems too much "compared to everyone else"...Geez...Where are the PARENTS these days (and don't they see that TEXTING is stealing their kids hearts and minds)?  I am beginning to wonder why did we ever agree to provide/allow these services to begin with (it has become a curse)!

Since we can't review the Sprint text transcripts or even access the texted phone numbers (like we can the phone logs)...we are considering cutting the privilege completely.

There's no real reason to text, when they have cell phones to beign with, eh?

As a parent of a 14 year old Boy who has girls calling him all the time and he is now on his 6th girlfriend I completely understand your concern. There is always a trust issue with our children and I know there are parents that say it is wrong and I know there are parents that say it is OK. I have struggled with even giving my son a phone. My Wife and my son have begged and begged me for over a year to let him have one and I always said why what does he need it for. I did not get a cell phone until I was in my 20s..But all my friends have one... I finally gave in last week and got him one since my wife and I needed to get new ones as well. So we got a family plan with unlimited texting do avoid the texting phone bills I hear others have to deal with. Now to answer your question. Here are the rules I laid out to my son before I bought the cell phone:

• No calling friends all the time so we dont burn the mins up.
• He can text all he wants but the cut off is 10 pm during a school night and an hour longer on the weekends
• He can call and take calls all he wants on the weekend up to 11 pm
• Finally which addresses your questions - I told him I reserve the right to review his texting at random. I will not read them all and not read the whole text unless I see something that looks suspect and will mostly focus on ones coming from and to his current girl friend...

If he did not agree to these terms, then no phone. I set the rules up front so he knew I was not trying to invade his privacy and I want to trust him but he is still 14 and still under my rules as a parent. I want him to trust him but what I told him is that if he used texting that was not clean or in bad taste it could come back to me and your mom and we could be held liable since he is underage. He could also be expelled from school or even sent to jail. They are really cracking down on sexting as they call it in our area. No bad words, no sex talk no showing pics that would be in bad taste. No pics with out any clothing.

I wrote these rules out and we both agreed to them and we each signed it as a contract agreement. There are parents that may not agree with my methods but I want my children to understand we have their best interest at heart and want them to learn what is right and what is wrong. Our children are a reflection of us and we most show that we are still in charge and doing it out of love. I know they are going to make mistakes and they need to learn from them but we have to pick and chose when to step in and when not to...

I hope this make since and helps... I will say a special prayer for you and hope that whatever you decide to do know that God is with you and will lead you to the right answer. I hope your daughter understands and trust will be maintained. You are her mom and we want our children to trust us but we are still their parents and their guide just as God is our Father and guide. Pray for God's direction and I know  the answer will come to you.

I like the ideas you have done for your teens cell phones. Being a father to a 14 yr old son, I to have set up rules for usage and texting and made it very clear that I reserve the right to check text messages at random. It has nothing to do about trust but about having their best interest at heart. I like the idea about turning off the Internet feature and not allowing pics to be sent via Internet or texting or email. Case in point. I was out of town this week which means he can get away with more since we have three children and it is easy for my wife to lose track of his actions. A friend sent him a pic of Tyler Swift to use as his screen saver. I had picked up his phone to do a swipe since I was out of town for 6 days and the first thing I noticed was a pic on his screen. I asked who is this and when and how do you get it? and Did you ask if it was ok? No was the answer to all. A friend had sent it to him while he was at school today. I understand it is only a head shot of Tyler Swift but it could escalate to other pictures that could be a whole lot worse... So I told him that he had to ask before he did anything to change his phone and if I or his mom do not approve then he does not do it. Also if he chooses to do it with out asking then he loses the phone for a period of time and the length of time will increase each time he does something wrong. Needless to say he was not happy when he had to give me his phone right before a weekend. Usage should be earned and not just a given...Once I feel he has learned his lesson then he will get the phone back. I want him to understand there are consequences with actions he chooses to do. They be hard lessons but we have to learn from our mistakes or we will never learn. We just have to make sure the consequences are not too sever...

I will be looking into the features offered on the phone we bought him. I know we can control the amount of mins he can have each month, we can set time limits on his phone as well. (He will not be able to text or call after certain hours each night except emergency numbers and his parents numbers.) We also have the function we can turn on that will all us to go on our PC and track where he is as long as is phone is on. We will always know where he is.. Yes many of these features comes with a price tag but we cannot replace our children so it is worth it...

All ways pray to God that he will guild you and show you the right thing to do..

God Bless
Phillip Parent to 4 wonderful children one of which is my little angel in Heave for 9 months this week. He is Missed but is watching over us and with us in our hearts and souls. Mommy and Daddy miss you very much and love you with all our heart.