Advanced solutions for parental control
Although parental control is a primary duty of all parents and should not be neglected, it can be exercised explicitly or without your children knowing about it.
Psychological studies confirm that kids who understand the why their parents impose limitations and know that they are being monitored are actually more cooperative than those who resist being controlled and look for every possibility to go around any restriction imposed on them. Here are some advanced solutions for parents to keep an eye on and protect their children.
- Web browsers for children
Children’s browsers, also known as walled gardens, are a useful solution for younger children. These applications are usually run in a way that they take up the entire space on the screen so that a child cannot deactivate it or click outside the program. Such apps are self-sustained environments that offer all that is required for a young child. There are games, emails on the start screen. Children are allowed to browse web portals that were configured by their parents and engage in different preapproved activities. Such browsers have a limited functionality free version which you can use to get acquainted with what your kids will be offered once you decide to use this solution to protecting your children online. However, for more features as well as to remove various advertisements and promotions ads, you will have to go for an upgrade which will cost you money but it will offer your child safer online experience. Nevertheless, there are negative sides to it. By imposing this type of parental control, you limit your kid who may be in need of much more information than these walled gardens offer. If your older kid is allowed to browse internet more freely, this solution will not be of benefit.
- Software for personal computers
This is a very common solution parents usually opt in favor of. Parental control without specific tools will not give you enough information about what is going on in your child’s life. Desktop and laptop applications that allow for many features are continuously in trend. You can do much more to keep track of your kids rather than filtering the web content using browsers. This kind of software allows you to block web pages, set screen-time restrictions and limits, and simply keep track of all your child’s activities online. Moreover, you will receive a detailed summary and logs at fixed time intervals so that you can analyze everything that happened during that period. Despite all these benefits, you need to keep in mind that such full-featured software requires you to pay a subscription fee every month. Although you will most definitely be reminded of the need to prolong the subscription, you may not receive the required information in case you forget.
- Parental control tools for hand-held devices
Apart from using desktop computers, contemporary teens cannot imagine their lives without smartphones and tablets. These devices provide access to the Internet via different technologies like 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, etc., which means parental control needs to be exercised even outside the home environment. Aside from in-build setting for monitoring and restricting access, you can use special apps for mobile devices. With this modern technological advancements, you will have complete data on everything that your child is up to. Keep in mind that you will need your kid’s social media credentials to keep abreast of their messaging and posts. You will be able to track their location via GPS, calls and texts, photos, browsing activities, etc. Besides, you will have an opportunity to remotely control the phone camera to take pictures and be aware of the environment.
Remember to be patient to your children and be on guard of their safety. Since their online identities are vulnerable, it is important for parental control to be thorough and strict in case Internet perils threaten to become real.
