Parental Control Guide: Keeping your Kids Safe Online

The use of technology is growing at an incomparably faster rate. Although it’s making all sorts of information available on finger tips but shockingly, establishing a very dangerous landscape via internet!

This era is surrounded by gadgets and devices and internet. Everything has become virtual. It has eased many complex things for us. Like every other source, it has advantages as well as disadvantages. The most threatening disadvantage of internet is parents losing control over kids because of the use of internet.

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Why you need to use parental controls?

Internet has become a necessity for people, in offices, educational institutes as well as houses. It has been welcomed ever since for leading humans into the information age, but gradually disclosed another side by providing illicit content, and increased criminal activities.

Every age group is using it with a much higher comfort level, especially children. Parenting is a serious responsibility. Parents prioritize their child’s security, many even want to limit the access to such devices. But if your kid has a well-developed interest with internet devices, then it may become impossible. However, some steps can definitely help you regulate the content accessible to your child. Children’s frequent use of internet may cause health issues for them.

Considering internet devices as a necessity, it is important that we prepare our children for a digital future. That can initially be done by coaching them about the etiquettes of using internet. They are pretty similar to how we teach them to behave and interact in public, with a major focus on not to talk to strangers. This can be possible if they are taught to make right decisions.

Related source: Cyberbullying Guide for Parents

Stop bullying

Healthy habits that encourage safe internet use:

1. Guide children about the security concerns you have regarding their internet use including cyberbullying, scamming, hackers etc. This will alert children about the dangers of using the internet devices

2. Keep a positive relationship with your child plays an essential role, children can themselves share whom they are communicating with

3. Set rules and discuss with your kids how and when to use the internet devices like setting ‘no mobile during dinner time’ or ‘no mobile in bed’. Such rules can be very effective

4. Be consistent in being strict. Make sure you implement rules and ensure all kids follow it regularly like if you allow kids to use device for a certain time limit, make sure you take it back at the exact time, without any arguments

5. If children require devices for educational use, monitor there activities and make sure they are not multitasking by spending time on social media, chatting or playing games

6. Test your kids for ‘self-regulation’, by observing how they behave when no parental controls are enforced. Revise rules and precautions from time to time

Types of Parental Control apps and How they work

Since the concerns arising daily including stories of cyberbullying and hacking, technological solutionsmust be utilized by using parental controls to protect your child while they are using internet. There are various types of parental controls available now, varying for each device. Some devices have exclusive settings to provide standard options for parental control, and some paid applications have demonstrated positive results. Although some applications can be expensive and complicated to use, they provide in-depth features to monitor your child’s activities.

Using parental control for maximum benefit is a process. Parental control software and applications help you manage screen time, block inappropriate content and monitor your child’s behavior online.

There are several approaches to strategize your parental control efforts:

1. Control the time children spend online:

This feature helps you control how much time your child spends on internet, on a particular device or using a specific application and surely you can decide how much time your child should spend on internet device. Devices shut-down after the set time

2. Monitor location of your children:

By using GPS and other tools, you can monitor where your child is and also get notified if they move out of the set boundaries so you can take immediate steps to get in touch with them

3. Content Filters:

Applying content filters will control your child’s access to inappropriate content. Various applications including YouTube and Google have the options to activate them free of cost

4. Content Monitoring & Reporting:

This feature helps you monitor what your children are accessing, and also provides weekly reports

Are parental control apps secure?

Yes, they are secure. The technical teams surely put their best efforts to make sure their applications are secure along with being user-friendly.

Balance is the key, you should must maintain balance in relying on these applications and manually monitoring your children. However, while selecting which application would be more appropriate, take the following points into consideration:

1. It should be cost-effective; you don’t need to go beyond your budget

2. It should provide cross-platform support

3. It should fulfill multiple purposes like time scheduling for internet usage and activity tracking

4. It should provide location tracking

5. It should be easy to manage

Recommended Parental Control Software

There are two applications that I consider highly recommendable:

1. Kaspersky Safe Kid:

This feature comes with Kaspersky Total Security. It will help you vigilantly manage how your child is using the device by monitoring incoming & outgoing texts and calls. It’s real-time location tracking and notifications will not only track your child’s location but also alert you promptly. It is also featured in pcmag’s list of ‘Best Parental Control Apps’

2. Bit-defender Parental Advisory:

It will make browsing much safer for your children by keeping illicit content away. It focuses on your child’s communication by ensuring only trusted contacts are contacting and immediately blocking incoming calls that are without Caller ID. It will also monitor and track activities on Windows, macOS, Android & iOS.

Parenting Control Options in devices:

Most devices have their parental control settings. Although they are free but can sometimes be time consuming to apply or may not provide complete set of features. Apple’s applications are relatively safer as its applications are strictly checked before they are added into application store.