Do you check your kids emails?

maybe some days

I do see how your wife is protecting your daughter, but why violate her privacy. That does seem like some kind of trust issue to me. Your wife should be able to trust her daughter and hope she makes the right decision on deleting the emails.

I understand what you are saying. I really doubt that a stalker can access your e-mail unless you put that e-mail address out there, like in myspace or facebook. As for spam, there will always be spam and that is not isolated to e-mail. My teens have more phone scams then anything that would be sent on e-mail because their cell phones are public access over any e-mail address they had. In all honesty, if there is a concern for your child's safety enough to monitor the activity, then maybe that child isn't old enough for the internet. Basic internet isn't a problem, but chat, myspace and facebook - the social networking sites - those are the ones that you need to really talked to them about. If they can't grasp the concept that the internet is just as dangerous as it is helpful, then they don't belong on it in the first place. Talking with them, giving them examples of how people stalk and what to say and not say online, that's all part of it. A parent needs to prep them on safety on the internet just as much as you'd teach your 5 year old to not talk to strangers.

wel ur breakin the law ur invding your daughter privacy if she wanted to she could take you to court and sue you! Its like your not allowed to open any ones post except urs.! so stop doin it give her som privacy u jerk! i would never check on my kids emails i trust them u should be ashamed!

no i dont check my ddaughter's email even if i know the password since im the one who made it for her. i trust her not to entertain anything that is not worthy, and i have already told her that. if there is something that she thinks is worthy of my attention, i think she will probably ask me for it and show me what it was. i understand how your wife feels, we have to do everything to protect our kids. offline and online.

I check my sons email and facebook. He is not allowed to have them unless I have full access. I caught him lying many many times so he has to earn my trust back. He is 15 years old.

It's good to be concerned about your kids, but maybe it'd be better to talk to them about the dangers they face online instead of reading their emails. I think what is appropriate does, however, depend a lot on their age -- of course younger kids need more protection than the older ones. Older kids are likely to feel that their privacy is being violated and resent it if you are too nosy, and this resentment will likely lead to other problems. I remember once in high school I emailed a girl and she later told me she didn't get to read it...her dad deleted it before she could! I have no idea why (it's not like my email was romantic or anything), but I thought it was pretty weird for her dad to be checking her emails when she was a teenager. You don't want to take protecting your children so far that you become known as the weird, overprotective parent.

My son is only 6 years old and is not into email yet. But when the time comes, I think I will not. I will give him the privacy. I will however check the sites later on that he will be surfing. Right now he uses the computer for online games. I usually watch as he plays. Its mostly kids stuff. But I do not let him play during weekdays considering that he has a class.

I don't have any children, but if I did, I don't think that I would check their emails. I understand why your wife is worried about stalkers, scams etc, and it not always easy for children to determine who is genuine and who might hurt them, but I still wouldn't check their emails. The intentions might be good, but even if a parent chooses to check the emails in order to protect the child, the parent is still invading the privacy of the child, I think. In my opinion is better to talk to the child about internet safety and how to protect yourself online. I think it alright to check the sites that your child visits, but that is different from checking the emails.

I don't have any children yet, but if I am a parent, I would do the same for my kids too. I always afraid that they would fall into trap of some predators online, and I hate the very idea of my children be prowled. I would definitely check their emails with anything suspicious.

I don't know. I think kids should be entitled to their privacy. I remember when I was little I would be MORTIFIED if my mom found my diary. Its not like it ever had anything inappropriate or anything like that, but you know... its personal. I'm sure she just thought it was cute. Likewise with emails, but thats even worse I think, because thats communication shared with another individual. I think its fine to set up a filter to filter out any inappropriate junk mail and other spam in general, but to break that trust? I dont know... I just don't think its right.