Aimeé
After reading this thread started by writer Ed O’Loughlin, or @edoloughlin on Twitter, I am sleeping with one eye open if I’m in a house with kids. They simply can’t be trusted. At a certain age, children have many of the skills necessary to do what adults can in relation to technology. Maybe even better, since we’re all dinosaurs. But they have much less impulse control. Beware and watch your Apple ID!
O’Loughlin says his youngest daughter hacked the parental control on Netflix with a very simple trick. She greased the buttons and when he input the code, she was able to see what four buttons got pushed. Then she tried all the combos later until she figured it out.
My youngest hacked our Netflix parental code. She put light grease on the remote and got me to input the code when she wasn’t looking. Then she noted the numbers I’d pressed and went through the combinations later. I’m both frightened and impressed.
— Ed O’Loughlin (@edoloughlin) September 6, 2020
What was she so desperate to watch? Umbrella Academy, which he said elsewhere in the thread is something she’s allowed to watch anyway. She did it for the pure thrill of espionage.
To everyone who’s asked, she is 12, and she wanted to watch Umbrella Academy
— Ed O’Loughlin (@edoloughlin) September 8, 2020
Some parents said they set up these types of challenges deliberately, almost as a test or incentive for figuring out life:
It crossed my mind to have a ‘forbidden bookshelf’ of subversive literature kept ‘secure’ with a padlock. Then even more tantalizing books secured with a better padlock. The book on lockpicking would have a lockpick set with it and be on a normal bookshelf.
— eliomen (@eliomen) September 7, 2020
But a lot more have been completely bamboozled many times by their spawn. The replies were full of stories of crafty children pulling one over on adults. Some were both annoyed and proud of their own babies’ sabotage. Others bragged about what they got away with as kids. No one who reads these will ever underestimate a child again:
1.
My 6 year old grandson cracked his Mom’s phone by watching her enter the code in the reflection on her glasses. Then linked it to another device and read her text messages for weeks. He is 8 now. They change passwords weekly.
— Rick the LSU fan (@Tgerfan54) September 6, 2020
2.
My 2 year old can pick simple locks with her cute hair clips.
So I’d like to know how old your youngest is, so I know how long I might be able to maintain an illusion of control in my household.
— Lee Brontide (@AmmoniteInk) September 7, 2020
3.
I shared this with my oldest daughter and she told me it reminded her of my younger daughter.
Apparently she once asked me for the access code while I was asleep, and I told her.
I do not remember this!
— Dr. Pepper’s Husband (Kee Hinckley) (@nazgul) September 7, 2020
4.
My son used my fingerprint to open my phone while I slept 😂
— Katherine Trill (@KittyTrill) September 7, 2020
5.
Our then-15 y.o. social engineered my husband by saying his phone wifi access didn’t work and using my husband’s phone to “check the issue”. He added himself as a wifi admin so he could disable restrictions each night. All summer he played games until 4am until I found him out.
— Kristen Pol (@kristen_pol) September 7, 2020
6.
Very, very impressive. My son ran two school planners – one with all of his good comments and one with his bad ones. Guess which one we got to see…?🤔
— David ‘Carajo’ Forest (@discodaveforest) September 7, 2020
7.
by age 8 I knew all our ATM PIN numbers by watching them from the backseat at the drive-thru ATM
I would breathe condensation on the window to write them down & got caught
Mom was very mad we had been driving around town with our ATM pins written on the back seat window
— Kickiniteasy (@kickiniteasy) September 7, 2020
8.
My nephew installed facebook, signed up himself and went live and his only 5 years..after being caught he said Instagram was tricky pic.twitter.com/bBao3N8Ab1
— Consi 💦💦💦 (@Leeyandah3) September 7, 2020
9.
25 years ago, before internet, my son was 14. He lied about his age, ordered computer parts by phone and COD. The parts would show up before I got home. He built his own computer in our basement. I had no idea until his sisters let me know. He owns his own computer company now.
— Laura Zinszer (@lzapp16) September 8, 2020
10.
When my chn were 2&3 I put chocolate decorations near the top of the Christmas tree to stop them being eaten. One day I found my 3yo on a chair passing each chocolate down to my 2yo to put in a plastic bowl. I wasn’t sure whether to tell them off or praise their teamwork 😂.
— Dr Vicki M (@vickisess) September 7, 2020
