Privacy vs. Safety: Teens and Home Security

If you’re raising teenagers, you most likely have your hands full. As a provider of home security in Long Island, All Action Alarm wants to make your job easier by giving you some tips about talking to teens about home security. Even if they purport to “already know” about home security (after all, don’t teens know everything?), many of them aren’t sure how they would handle a dangerous home security threat – whether they admit it to you or not. That’s why it’s important to educate teens on using your home security system.

Learn The Duress Code

Of course, your alarm is designed to activate when somebody breaks down the door. Regardless, there may be times when that feature is irrelevant. For example, what if your teen lets someone in the house willingly, and that person turns out not to be trustworthy? If that happens, here’s what they need to do: Enter the duress code on the alarm panel. Your duress code is a four-digit code that you set when you first obtain your system. By entering that code, your teen can alert the monitoring center without ever having to pick up the phone, and without the perpetrator hearing any kind of audible alarm.

Home Video Surveillance

Then, there’s the question of your home security cameras, particularly if you have a system by Alarm.com (a system designed to help parents keep tabs on the home while they’re away). What if your teen complains that he or she feels like they’re “being watched” by you? Your answer is this: “You know where the cameras are. The only time I can see you is when you are in those parts of the house.”

Most parents opt to place a camera above the interior side of the front door, and may place others in areas of the home where the kids aren’t allowed (a gun cabinet, a liquor cabinet, etc.). Assure your teen that as long as he doesn’t go near those areas, he isn’t being watched. Then, remind him that the main purpose of the cameras is to have video of anyone who may try to break into the house, and the fact that you can see when he gets home is just an added bonus (wink).

Education Is An On-Going Process

Educating teens on home security is just part of raising them; because you are a devoted customer of All Action Alarm, you’ve already done most of the work by investing in a security system. Use this information to talk to teens about home security, and pat yourself on the back for doing a great job.

About All Action Alarm

All Action Alarm has been a family-owned business since 1980. We are experienced and maintain a high standard of continual knowledge and education in all areas of residential and commercial electronic systems.