Found out today that he's been clearing his browser history regularly. I use parental controls but now I'm paranoid I'm missing something. Had to have the talk with him about what's appropriate online. He says all his friends do it because they don't want their parents seeing what they look at. Is this normal or am I not being strict enough? Kinda feel like I failed here.
The browser history thing is pretty normal at that age, but I get the paranoia. I've had some direct conversations with my kids about what they're looking at and why. Parental controls are just one piece of it.
Tech lead here and I'll be honest, kids learn to cover their tracks fast. Instead of just tightening controls, maybe sit down and ask him what he's worried about you finding? Sometimes it's just embarrassing stuff, not anything serious.
He's testing boundaries, which is completely normal at that age. I've got three kids and they all did this. Instead of escalating the monitoring, try building trust. Ask him why he feels like he needs privacy and go from there. Sometimes they just want to feel grown up.
This is a tough one. I'd say the fact that he's being sneaky about it is more concerning than what he might be looking at. We started having real conversations with our boys about internet safety instead of just blocking everything. Might be worth sitting down and asking him what's going on without judgment first.
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My 4-month-old can't even hold her own bottle yet but I'm already dreading the day we have to have tech talks. What kind of stuff was he looking at? That'll probably dictate how you approach it.