Living With Forti Goods Smart-Locking Furniture
You bought yourself a sleek piece of Forti Goods smart-locking furniture, but now your kids are more curious than ever about what you keep behind closed drawers. How do you explain to them why there’s a locked drawer in the living room? Or what privacy means?
Every home has different rules, every family has different parent-child relationships, and every person has a different definition of the word “privacy,” but ultimately, the topic of “what’s inside mom’s or dad’s locked nightstand drawer” comes down to respect.
Respecting others’ privacy, as well as one’s own, is an important topic to discuss with children no matter what, but the conversation looks different depending onthe age of your child and the context of the situation.
When it comes to talking about the privacy of things, like the jewelry or prescription medication you might keep in your Forti Goods locking furniture, consider these three points:
- What privacy means to you and what it may mean to your kid(s)
- The safety aspect of keeping potentially harmful substances locked up
- What stage of life your child is in
Read on for tips on how to discuss privacy with kids of any age, so everyone in the family can enjoy your new Forti Goods smart-locking furniture.
If You Have Toddlers or Younger
For really young kiddos, you probably have a little breathing room before you need to have a serious discussion about privacy and safety. Fortunately, the smart lock on your Forti Goods piece will keep their curious hands out of your valuables, and they’ll likely become bored with the whole thing before you need to provide an explanation.
However, you can still model the concepts of respect and consent for them, even at a young age. Teach them to ask for your permission to touch your things by asking their permission to touch their things. (Within reason, of course. Obviously, sometimes you just need to get whatever’s in their mouth out of their mouth now.) But by showing them you respect their things, even with simple actions like asking them if you can brush their hair, you’re demonstrating to them to respect other people’s things. Establishing this lesson early will make the privacy conversation easier down the road.
If You Have Elementary School Kids
Once kids are in school, the idea of privacy will naturally start to make more sense to them because they’ll be separated from you, potentially for the first time in their life.
At this age, they may not understand why you’re choosing to keep the specific things you have in your furniture locked up, but they can at least understand that they shouldn’t touch them. This again comes back torespect andconsent, which are at the root of privacy.
Again, the best way to explain consent to your children is to show them what it means. This can look like:
- Asking their permission to go through their backpack or look at their homework
- Knocking on their door before entering their room
- Letting them pick out their own clothes for school
With elementary-aged kids, you may also want to talk to them about safety, depending on what you keep in your locking furniture. It’s not always necessary to go into the details of owning things like prescription drugs or firearms, but you can explain why they’re safer when they’re locked up.
Consider framing the safety aspect of locking furniture around the people they love. You’re not only keeping your valuables locked up for their safety but also for the safety of their friends when they come over. You don’t want them or their loved ones getting hurt, so your locking furniture acts as protection for them.
If You Have Tweens or Teens
Your child’s privacy needs change as they head into their pre-teen and teenage years. At this age, they don’t want you going through their things. This can feel scary, but it’s also an opportunity for you to ask them for the same respect. Because they’re expecting you to respect their privacy, it’ll (hopefully) be easier for them to understand why you’re asking for it too.
Like younger kids, tweens and teens will respond to demonstrations. If you ask their permission to enter their room or go through their phone, they understand what it means to grant consent and will hopefully do the same for you and your things. And if they breach that trust, you can also demonstrate to them what it means to lose privacy, in turn enforcing the idea of respecting it.
Safety is a huge part of the privacy conversation for tweens and teens, especially when it comes to storing valuables in furniture that locks. Older kids face a lot of pressure to try new things, and if they know you’re storing something like an expensive alcohol collection in your locking furniture, there’s a chance they’re going to try to get to it. Talk to them about why you keep certain substances under lock and key. Explain to them the consequences of trying those substances, and most importantly, give them a safe space to ask questions. If they feel like they can get true, direct answers from you, they’ll feel less inclined to go behind your back and more inclined to come to you directly anytime they’re curious.
Teaching Privacy and Consent in Your Home
The bottom line is this—having locking furniture at home means you’re expecting a certain level of privacy and consent from anyone that’s in your house. If you expect privacy and consent from your household members, they’re allowed to expect it from you as well.
To start the conversation of privacy and consent with your kids, teach them about their personal power over their own privacy and how to wield it properly. If kids experience what it feels like to have their privacy respected, they’ll understand what it means to respect someone else’s.