Tips to ensure your kids have a safe, fun, and enriching experience every time they go online
The entire family is glued to their individual screens in different rooms for hours every morning. Sounds familiar? You are not alone. It’s the same scenario in most households as parents work from home and children attend their schools virtually. As a parent, it is natural for you to be worried about the increased unsupervised screen time your kids are engaging in and what they get exposed to while they are online.
Microsoft Family Safety app can enable you to create a safe space for your kids and build trust with your children at the same time. These features work across Windows 10, Microsoft Edge, Xbox, and Android devices.
Here are a few tips to get started.
Use content filters
Whether is learning or play, children now spend prolonged unsupervised time online. More than ever, now is the time to ensure they are not consuming content not meant for them. You can set web and search filters on Microsoft Edge to ensure objectionable and mature content stays away from them.
Balance their screen time
Knowing that online learning uses a lot of screen time, you can balance how much time they spend on each device. You can also set screen limits by genre of apps and games, or even particular games. What’s more, your kids can also request you to grant them additional screen time, if the need arises, ensuring there’s a healthy two-way conversation.
Playing age-appropriate games
With limited avenues to go out and play, you can ensure that your kids have fun while playing games on their Windows 10 PC or Xbox. Set age limits to filter out inappropriate apps and games. They will need your approval if they want to download any app or game that’s rated over their age limit. And yes, you can set time limits on the games they play.
Say goodbye to bill shock
It’s natural for children to be curious and try out new apps, games, or new in-game features. But they might not always realize it isn’t free. As a parent, you can set permissions for your kids so they need your approval any time they want to buy stuff from Microsoft Store.
Talk to your kids
Finally, ensure that you talk to your kids regularly about their online activities and have an open channel of conversation. A good way to have healthy conversations is by turning on activity reporting from the family dashboard. You will get a weekly email summarizing their online activity across supported devices, which includes the websites they visited, the terms they searched for on Bing, and the amount of screen time they had. You can go over the report with your kids, discuss their online activity, and encourage them to ask questions too.
