musician.educator.musicologist

on a Challenge From My Daughter (and Her Friends)

Added on by Taylor Smith.

My wife and I were trying to explain some rules around why our daughter (16) can’t take her cellphone into the bathroom with her. To be blunt, one of the reasons is I am not sure she wouldn’t take/send inappropriate pictures. I don’t think she would do this *on purpose*, but she is really gullible and pretty naïve, and I could see a situation wherein she would do something stupid without totally realizing what she as doing.

Anyway, I tried to tell her this, to explain that she is kind of naïve about these things, and that she just doesn’t understand the vagueries around what is and isn’t appropriate/provocative/etc. My wife mentioned a specific photograph she shared on Instagram that, to us, was clearly provocative. To our daughter—because she just doesn’t “get” some of this stuff, yet—it was just a “cute” picture. She told us that all of her friends also said it was not a big deal, that it was “just a cute photo.”

Then, she added this: “And, not all of my friends are that naïve, Dad! Some of them are probably more sexually active than you and mom!” I looked over at my wife and said, “Challenge accepted!