It’s a problem as hold as parenthood itself: how do you keep your children safe. The problems may have changed from fearing the common cold, but the fear is still there.
Luckily, a lot has changed over the past few years, and advancements in technology have allowed parents to find new ways to keep their little one free from harm. Read on for details on all our favourite choices.
Best for monitoring your child’s online activity
Whether you’re putting on YouTube Kids videos in a desperate attempt to calm your little ones or have decided they’re old enough for their own phone to make sure you can reach them, or they’ve gained an early love of PC gaming, you will find that even your child, who doesn’t know what “www” stands for, is online.
Sure, the internet allows for learning, exchanging ideas and innovation, but it has a dark side that children shouldn’t go near and could easily stumble into. That’s why there are a number of online monitoring tools online to add to your devices. Our favorite is the Qustodio app, which can be used on devices made by Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and even Kindles. Every device will be safe for your child to explore with the Qustodio app installed in it. The app offers web content filtering, app blocking, and a detailed activity log for you to check up on.
Best for monitoring your child when you are at work
It’s a universal nuisance of the day that any working parent will relate to - being contacted by nursery staff. Sure, sometimes it’s something serious like an injury or your child needing some discipline, but more often than not it’s something as silly as licking a tree or won’t nap.
Nursery Story offers software set up by the nursery and connected to your phone with an app that will give you regular updates in notifications and messages, so that you don’t have to go through a lengthy call unless the situation merits it. Communication is a breeze where group and individual messages can be sent from the nursery, so no more showing up to nursery and asking your child why everyone else is dressed up.
You will also be able to monitor your child’s activities, like their meals and naps and set permissions and approval systems for staff, so you will have a record if you mention that your child is allergic to nuts.
Best for co-parenting families
Unfortunately, divorce is a likely outcome for some parents, but if you do it right, you can minimize any negative impact inflicted on your child. Trying to communicate better is the key to a healthy co-parenting relationship.
Our Family Wizard is a court-approved app that aims to encourage communication between parents. Your schedule, expenses, calendar, and communication options are all contained in the one app.
Of course, separated parents aren’t the only people who could use such an app. Some people are co-parenting out of choice, both working and navigating their children’s movements, or simply better at writing down plans for children rather than just mentioning them while washing the dishes.
You can make plans, split expenses, store contacts like extended family and teachers, all from the one app, saving you time and confusion.
However, Our Family Wizard is particularly aimed at co-parents, with attorneys, mediators and family law professionals using practitioner accounts to manage client relationships. Conflicts can be solved quickly with records eliminating the “he said/she said” arguments, and payments can be settled with expense logs.
In recent months I’ve sought to cut down tremendously on my child’s screen time. He does do some online work but I have to monitor each step of the way. Thanks for the insight.