As a single father of three boys I have to work some odd hours to make ends meet. I’ve taught my boys to be very self-sufficient and hopefully given them the life skills needed to make it in this world. I have always trusted my boys to make the right decisions, but I’m not naive’; teens can be some of the dumbest creatures on earth, lol.
One day when I came home I could have sworn I smelt the distinct, faint odor of cigarette smoke. I asked my boys, who of course denied it to the end. Not having any proof I had to let it go, but I didn’t forget it. That night after they were all in bed it hit me that if they’re smoking, what else were they doing while I was out?! I immediately got on the computer and started searching up some of the parent blogs I had always trusted for advice over the years. These were written by other single parents and had always been quite helpful. Sure enough a mother there had had a similar problem and had resorted to a mini surveillance device. She described in great detail the little gadget and how she implemented it to get the hard-core proof she needed to both confront and protect her pre-teens. It is called Little Brother Cam, and that little spy camera seemed to be surprisingly easy to operate and easily hidden. She provided the web address and I went to the site; it WAS easy, small and affordable so I went ahead and bought one.
I practiced with the camera for a few days placing it in different parts of the house, and looking at the footage after the boys were in bed, and decided the mantle in the media room was the best place to catch a good view. They and their friends spend a majority of their time in there playing video games and jamming. I left that afternoon and 4 of their friends were already there, playing some dumb video game and weren’t paying any attention to me as I casually went over to the mantle and activated the camera.
I came home about 3hrs later, the guys were still there, (the windows now open), and I retrieved the camera. That night after dinner I took my laptop into my room to take a peek and sure enough there they were, not only smoking but hitting my scotch! In defense of my boys, they were not doing this, but two of their so-called friends were. I picked up my laptop and called a family meeting. With overwhelming proof in my hands there wasn’t much the boys could say, but it did bring up another conversation on peer pressure. The fact that these two boys weren’t only disrespecting my home, but disrespecting my sons as well, and that bit of added guilt, “if something happened while I was gone because of their drinking, I would go down, regardless of the fact that I wasn’t here! Then where would they be?” (That one seems to work well, lol).
I have to say, I was a little surprised, but not shocked, they are teens after all, and I did MUCH worse as a teen! But I’m just glad I invested a little money and caught this early before something really serious happened. I was very surprised at how something as small as a key chain car remote could be so clear, easy and effective. That Little Brother Cam has been well worth the money; the boys now know I could be filming anywhere, anytime and seem to be back on the right track, lol. Nothing like a little paranoia to keep them in check, lol.
How did you handle the invasion of privacy argument? That was always my first defense as a teen.
Is a privacy issue, I am the one responsible for what happens in my home. There was under-age smoking and drinking going on and this put me, and those kids, in more jeopardy from a legal point. Minors, in my home, are not awarded the same privacy expectations. It’s the same as having a CCTV going at all times.