Help! I have a 15 year old *and* iChat!!

[emw]

i think trust should be given until a reason not to is presented, what would if you never trust your kid in the first place how will they ever earn your trust.

To a point, I would agree. There's no question that you have to allow freedom and trust your children to do the right thing. I would, however, maintain that you need to give them increasing responsibility over time, not trust them to make large decisions on their own just because they've not made a mistake on something else before.

And no, I don't think iChat is a "large decision" - I am speaking in general.