Parenting Pointers: How to Protect Kids Online with Parental Controls

By: Tom Lash, owner of ThinkBIG

As children are now exposed to technology at an early age, they tend to spend a lot of their time online. As technology advances, so does the risk of dangers including meeting strangers online, cyberbullying, being exposed to inappropriate websites, sexting and privacy concerns.  As parents, it’s hard to keep up with the ever evolving technological environment.

Fortunately, parents aren’t alone in their campaign to keep children’s internet browsing safe.  There are many filters available to protect your child’s computer and mobile phones. Be sure to research available resources and make an informed decision.  These controls can protect your children from exposure to inappropriate websites.  Controls can also monitor website visits and protects children from profanity, spyware, viruses and more. There are several different types of parental controls:

·       Hardware-Based Protection- can block inappropriate sites on all connected devices, be they PCs, Macs, game consoles, or smartphones.

·       Mobile Parental Control- parental control apps that install on smartphones and mobile devices are becoming more and more common. As with PC-based parental control, these apps can give parents a higher level of control and monitoring than obtained by filtering at the router level.

·       Social Network Safety- many new parental monitoring tools specifically aim at preventing cyberbullying and other social networking dangers.

·       Spyware- there are a few parental monitoring tools that are nothing short of spyware. They install in stealth mode, log keystrokes, snap screenshots, capture passwords, and generally record every little thing that happens on the PC.

·       Keeping your computer public- Consider situating the family PC out in the open, keep an eye on the children's activity, and talk with them about appropriate behavior.

There are many choices for parental controls with a wide range of features. Some parents may choose a full-scale control for the PC, smartphone, or both. Others may focus on social networking protection. And very occasionally, parents may need a stealth installation of spy software.  Be sure to do your research in order to make the most informed decision.

The technology-age is here to stay and will continue to evolve and change.  Being involved with your children’s online activity, making sure they also spend time away from technology and keeping open lines of communication will go a long way in teaching your children how to make good decisions.

Tom Lash, father of four, started ThinkBIG (www.thinkbigcomputing.com) in 2011 to provide a

safe online environment for children.