In your teenage years, you will try things, with or without permission, because everyone knows if there’s a will, there’s a way. So do strict parents really make sneaky teens?

Everyone knows someone who drinks, parties, and smokes, but do they represent the majority of teens? With only 31.7% of teens saying they have strict parents in a survey presented to Central Hardin students, how do they get around the rules they set up? There are three ways to pass rules: lying, sneaking, and hoping they won’t be mad when you break them.

In addition to the safety of teens and the sake of parents’ worries most teens have traditional curfew rules and/or location-sharing features. With these in place, it’s harder for teens to evade rules, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stop them from evading them.

From a survey posted for Central Hardin students, 62.4% of teens who responded to the survey said they have a curfew on school nights, but it loosens up on weekends with only 47.5% of students having curfews.

Maybe the drastic change in the difference in curfews has something to do with 78.57% of parents having their teens located at all times.

As a teen with parents who are always watching our locations, there are ways to get around it. 33.3% of students answered that they have found a way to turn off their location so their parents couldn’t see where they were at with no students reporting that they’ve gotten caught doing this.

With getting to hide what you’re doing or where you’re from your parents, the desire to sneak out lessens, with only 21.8% of students saying they sneak out of their homes or a friend’s house, but only 8.5% of students saying they’ve continued to sneak out after being caught by parents.

When surveyed for stories about getting around their parent’s rules, two teens said: “I would always disconnect the cameras so I could sneak out…” and “I’ve never snuck out but I’ve snuck my friend over to my house without my parents knowing when I was home alone a few times.”

After knowing about the teen tendency to sneak around, what about what they’re sneaking? The top 3 things teens hide from their parents in the survey are alcohol, nicotine, and social media, or do they even have to hide it? When surveyed 19.8% of students reported hiding alcohol from their parents and 8.9% of students said they didn’t have to hide alcohol from their parents because their parents knew. Following up, students were asked if they had been caught sneaking alcohol. 2.7% reported they were caught, grounded, and stopped sneaking alcohol. 6.8% of students said they were caught but not in trouble. Finally, 6.8% of students said they were caught, grounded, and continued to sneak alcohol. This proves the point ‘If there’s a will there’s a way.’

From the survey, when asked about nicotine habits, only 18.8% of students said they use nicotine devices and hide it from their parents (which I find hard to believe). Only 18.3% of students said that they’ve been caught using nicotine and 12.5% of that 18.3% said they still use nicotine devices after being caught.

In a comment from the survey, one teen says “…to hide stuff I would put them in an old stuffed animal that I put a tiny hole in.”

Out of alcohol, nicotine, and social media, social media was the least hidden from parents among teens. A quote from a student leads me to believe that students lie from fear of getting in trouble, “…I’ve lied about many things to my parents, and even though I’ve been able to open up to them more throughout growing up, I still find times where I lie because of the fear of punishment…”

Finally, the death of teenage freedom: getting grounded. The first three things teens reported getting taken away when grounded in the survey are their cell phones, ability to go places, and gaming systems.

Focusing on cell phones, when teens were asked if they had found ways to communicate or entertain themselves without their phones over 50% reported that they have either an old phone (trap phone), an iPad/tablet, or a computer/laptop. In student comments, they mentioned finding screen time codes set on their phones so they can use it when they’d like rather than asking. As well as siblings helping each other when grounded by lending each other old devices.

So do strict parents make sneaky teens? My conclusion: yes and no. If a teen wants to do something they will, with or without permission. My favorite take on this was a comment left in the survey “It’s easier to behave than it is to misbehave.” Lying, sneaking, and breaking the rules will get you what you want in the moment but in the long run, you have a parental bond built on lies and not trust.