My 12-year-old son Creed is well aware he has no civil rights as long as he's a minor in our home. So he doesn't complain that I rifle through his backpack on a regular basis.

I started this early in his 7th grade year. Countless times over the years I've found out too late
about this or that, and I realized how important it is to stay on top of what's going on. If I skip a few days, I regret it. For instance, last Tuesday Creed made a 7 p.m. request for poster board for a project that was due in the morning and no doubt was assigned a month prior.

Suffice to say, ransacking the backpack is a valuable parenting tool, and so is keeping extra poster board on hand.

Sometimes he makes a comment, like "so I have no privacy?'' and I usually issue my standard line, "Creed, I own you.''

Last night's jackpot was a notice of after-school suspension (what is the acronym for this?) from his math teacher. The crime: "Chewing.''

(Not to be confused with last week's transgression: "Humming.'')

Creed explained he was chewing gum.

I also found that he got a zero on a homework assignment. Over the weekend, I found his report card in there.

When teachers call to complain about something, I tell them "put a note in there any time you have a problem. I go through Creed's backpack every day.'' I can just feel the elation on the other end of the line. Teachers love this. That probably means they're fed up with parents who don't pay attention until it's too late.

It's easier to start now, when it's not going to be interpreted by your kid as an accusation, or a sign of distrust. It's just the routine.