Trust, and a Lack There Of.

First, read this.  If you're thinking "wow, that's a great tool, I wish I had one to spy on my child/spouse" then slap yourself, hard.

GPS trackers, keyloggers, porn detectors, etc.  All of that shit exists because nobody fucking trusts anybody anymore.  Why?  Because nobody is honest anymore.  We live in a world where nobody trusts anybody, so nobody is honest with anybody, thus causing others to not trust them!  We tag our little children with GPS so we can track them in case they're kidnapped because we don't trust society at large, but when they grow up we just find better hiding spots for the GPS because we don't trust the kids enough to come home after school when they say they will.  We scan our spouse's computers for hidden IM and chat logs because they've been spending a lot of time online.  We search computers and sock drawers for porn because we're afraid either our children will find out about sex or that our spouses aren't interested in us anymore.  We stop trusting the very people we should trust the most, our families.  Why?  To protect them, of course.

BULL-FUCKING-SHIT.

We do it to protect ourselves from the realities of life.  We don't want to think that even for a minute our marriages aren't perfect, our children may do bad things or have bad thoughts, or that anything might exist outside our tiny, self-created, quasi-perfect worldview.  Guess what?  Your spouse looks at porn and finds other people attractive.  Your kid looks porn and will do bad things.  The people you know and should trust aren't perfect, they're human-fucking-beings.  And you?  You've destroyed what little trust they had in you by violating their privacy.

Do you want to have a happy, well-adjusted family?  Start with a little honesty and trust.  Tell your spouse how you honestly feel and tell them that you trust them to be honest with you.  Tell your kids that you know they might not always want to tell you things, but that you love them and trust them to be honest with you.  However, the most important part of this is to not get pissed off when they are honest with you.  Calm the fuck down and talk about it.  Nothing is perfect, not you, not your kids, not your spouse, not your marriage, not your family.  Everything has flaws and it's those flaws that make us human, that make us special and lovable.

Trust your family.  Be honest with your family.  If you do that, then they will too.  Always remember the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.