Dear Frannie Friday--Kids and Technology

My kids, like all kids these days, love their fair share of technology.  It's really hard, but equally important to keep this as monitored as possible.  Here's how we do it:

Rule #1--Keep Everything Visible

Our family computer and the PS3 that is connected to the internet are both in the dining and living room, right where we can see them.  So whenever the kids are using those electronics, we can see exactly what they are doing.

2.  Utilize Parental Control

We have parental passwords on everything from Netflix to the Playstation to computers and we keep the password to ourselves.  It can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but it's worth the few minutes to have to approve something but it's worth it.

3.  Enlist in Help

Patrick works with computers (don't ask me to explain his job, I don't even get it).  He used Microsoft Family Safety and set up profiles for each of the kids on the computer.  Now not only does the internet restrict the kids from certain sites, but we get a weekly email showing how much time each kid spends on the internet, what sites they visited, what sites they tried to get to but were restricted from and even what words they Googled.

Keeping your kiddos safe in the digital world of the unknown is of utmost importance.  

Do you have further questions on this or have a new question to submit for Dear Frannie Fridays? Send it to me at franniepantz@hotmail.com!

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