A Child's Right to Technology

There are so many liberal opinions about disciplining children that it's scary. I recently watched a You Tube video where a fed up dad shot a round of bullets into his daughter's laptop as a lesson. Some of the comments were amazing. There were actually people who responded as though the dad was depriving his daughter of her access to technology. What?!
  
Since when does a child have the right to technology? Last I checked, Internet didn't come with the house nor are there entitlement programs for smart phones, laptops or iPads. In fact, for a child to have his so called right to technology, it costs the parents hundreds, even thousands, of dollars when you include software, upgrades, usage, and maintenance costs. But since we're talking about rights, who's responsible for managing this right? Isn't it the parent's time (and more money) involved in monitoring the information accessible to the child on the world wide web? Tell me, again, where this right comes in?


Certainly I want to give my children things but there are many factors that determine what I give them and when, technological or otherwise, and their right, or what someone else feels is their right, is not one of those factors. For example, there's the factor of whether my husband and I actually think it's beneficial vs. harmful. That's more of a "how I choose to raise my children" thing. Then there's the factor of whether the child actually deserves this particular thing. The child's overall character, level of maturity, and responsibility fulfillment (yes, chores) are also major factors. God gave us our children to love, guard, care for, and train, which brings me to the most important factor - how it fits in with our relationship with Christ and our family mission in Him.

So where I'm not quite the advocate of the Children's Right to Technology Movement, I certainly support the Campaign for the Right of Parents to Determine Their Children's Rights as well as the Children Earning Rights Movement. I've found that children appreciate things much more when they've worked for them and when they know they have to work to keep them.

*Note* The You Tube video that I have linked and referred to contains profanity and should, therefore, be viewed with discretion.