Paper dreams & silicone hearts @dallassaywhat - Tumblr Blog

There are two types of people in this world. Those who clear remaining time when they’re done with the microwave, and monsters.

dallassaywhat

I'm a proud monster.

errantics

geekstudio

Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon Arrive in Late 2016!

beaky-peartree

remember when lol meant “laughing out loud” instead of “this is to indicate that this brief text isn’t hostile”

chromaticc

omg

12beaches

zarlmarx-deactivated20160518

TELEPHONE PT 2 ABOUT TO HIT OHHH MY GOD

melaninboy

SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU LYING???????????????

zorascreation

clarke-griffin-archive

just-shower-thoughts

If an adult had told me as a child that they secretly don’t have a clue what they’re doing, growing up would have been a lot less of a shock.

12818-tomhanks

laurakvstheworld

i honestly feel 100% better after watching this

madnessinthemist

why do I like this so much

wangpatang

“your generation is obsessed with instant gratification” mom you freak the fuck out and stomp out of a restaurant when you wait more than 15 minutes for your food

quidsecrets

“ I made a tumblr to get my whole point across, but the short version is to the person calling me an entire documentary crew and Tony Rodriguez poisonous, well, you’re hysterically wrong on at least six different levels. - Daniel Shapiro “

dallassaywhat

Don’t sell yourself short, Dan! You’re totally as good as an entire doc crew. :P

daeranilen

"Should parents read their daughter's texts or monitor her online activity for bad language and inappropriate content?"

Earlier today, I served as the “young woman’s voice” in a panel of local experts at a Girl Scouts speaking event. One question for the panel was something to the effect of, “Should parents read their daughter’s texts or monitor her online activity for bad language and inappropriate content?”

I was surprised when the first panelist answered the question as if it were about cyberbullying. The adult audience nodded sagely as she spoke about the importance of protecting children online.

I reached for the microphone next. I said, “As far as reading your child’s texts or logging into their social media profiles, I would say 99.9% of the time, do not do that.”

Looks of total shock answered me. I actually saw heads jerk back in surprise. Even some of my fellow panelists blinked.

Everyone stared as I explained that going behind a child’s back in such a way severs the bond of trust with the parent. When I said, “This is the most effective way to ensure that your child never tells you anything,” it was like I’d delivered a revelation.

It’s easy to talk about the disconnect between the old and the young, but I don’t think I’d ever been so slapped in the face by the reality of it. It was clear that for most of the parents I spoke to, the idea of such actions as a violation had never occurred to them at all.

It alarms me how quickly adults forget that children are people.

daeranilen

Apparently people are rediscovering this post somehow and I think that’s pretty cool! Having experienced similar violations of trust in my youth, this is an important issue to me, so I want to add my personal story:

Around age 13, I tried to express to my mother that I thought I might have clinical depression, and she snapped at me “not to joke about things like that.” I stopped telling my mother when I felt depressed.

Around age 15, I caught my mother reading my diary. She confessed that any time she saw me write in my diary, she would sneak into my room and read it, because I only wrote when I was upset. I stopped keeping a diary.

Around age 18, I had an emotional breakdown while on vacation because I didn’t want to go to college. I ended up seeing a therapist for - surprise surprise - depression.

Around age 21, I spoke on this panel with my mother in the audience, and afterwards I mentioned the diary incident to her with respect to this particular Q&A. Her eyes welled up, and she said, “You know I read those because I was worried you were depressed and going to hurt yourself, right?”

TL;DR: When you invade your child’s privacy, you communicate three things:

You do not respect their rights as an individual.

You do not trust them to navigate problems or seek help on their own.

You probably haven’t been listening to them.

Information about almost every issue that you think you have to snoop for can probably be obtained by communicating with and listening to your child.

daeranilen

Part of me is really excited to see that the original post got 200 notes because holy crap 200 notes, and part of me is really saddened that something so negative has resonated with so many people.

fithealthfood

brbgottagoread

Me: *gets anxiety making a phone call* Also me: *feels completely at ease and downright cheerful wandering around unfamiliar city with only vague knowledge of how to get to where I’m going*