A mom has recently divided the internet after she said she’s allowed to snoop through her kids’ phones because she is the one that pays for them.
Laura Muse openly admitted to confiscating her 15-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter’s phones before they go to bed so that they can get a good night’s sleep instead of being hooked online.
But while most people would expect her to put them away until morning, this North Carolina mom spends some time going through them in order to make sure her teens are behaving.
Speaking to The New York Post, the 41-year-old emphasized that because she pays for their phones, she’s allowed to do it.

“I own their phones, I pay for the phones. I can go through them whenever I want,” she said. “People might think [it] is a sign of disrespect or an invasion of their privacy, but this is how I manage my ship.”
What started off as random, weekly checks when her children were around 11 years old carried on well into their teen lives, with the mom-of-two occasionally still asking them for their hand-held devices to look through.

Muse also told the outlet that while she trusts her kids, she is doing her checks in order to prevent them from engaging in inappropriate exploits while simultaneously protecting them.
However,that doesn’t mean the 41-year-old – who is a mental health clinician – hasn’t also caught them out.

“If I do find something that’s an issue, we talk about it and turn it into a teachable moment,” she added. “I’m not perfect, I don’t expect my children to be perfect, but it’s important to keep an eye on things.”