This is such a specious argument and yet repeated ad nauseam. Please stop. For one, it doesn't make the listening and harvesting of data ok, just because it may already be happening. Also, it's just condescending. You don't think the parent or other people of reasonable intelligence and valid concern haven't thought about that? Then, it also just misses the point anyway -- no, I'm not OK with my cell phone harvesting anything and everything it can get (cadence of my walk, say). Yes, I like having access to maps on the go. These concerns aren't mutually exclusive, and most of us choose not to live like Stallman. We still live in a rich and complex ecosystem of law and precedence, highly dependent on where we are on a given day, what nationality we are, etc. None of that invalidates the quite reasonable expectation to privacy (not to mention that solutions exist such as opt-in, but cavalier people working in tech choose instead the race to the bottom of privacy and chasing cost-per-click).
Right, I'm not saying it makes it ok, I'm saying OP is a hypocrite or doesn't understand what technology is capable of. But of course if you believe any device capable of listening is listening, then you have to forfeit your smartphone along with your home automation device.