If you are a parent, you probably understand the need to monitor your young children’s internet usage. With unsavory images and ads popping up everywhere, it is difficult to make sure your kids will not be bombarded with risky information. And that is not even to mention the risk of sexual predators.
When our oldest son started the 7th grade, he was required to have an iPad for school. To be safe, we decided to disable his web browser (it was Safari at that time) so that he did not have access to the internet. But, we soon learned that one of the reasons they needed the iPads was so that they could do internet research in class.
This was difficult for us to give up control of, because up to this point, we had only allowed him on the internet if one of us was there to monitor him. And since I knew his teachers might frown on my wife or I attending class with him, we had a little bit of a dilemma.
That is when I started researching substitute web browsers that offered parental controls.
My criteria were the following:
– The ability to remotely lock the internet.
– The ability to remotely approve sites that he needed.
– To be able to review every website and search term he used.
– The ability to blacklist (not allow) certain websites.
– That it had different levels of filtering restriction.
– That it did not look childish.
After reviewing several browsers with parental controls, I decided to go with the Premium version of Mobicip.
We installed Mobicip and have set his search engine with the strictest settings for now. That means it does block most websites and google searches. But the great thing about the Mobicip app is that if he needs access to a website that is restricted, he can click a tab that allows Crista or I to approve it from our phone.
What the child sees when they go to a site that is restricted:
What the parent sees:
With Mobicip, you can go to your dashboard at any time and see what your child has been searching for — which websites were approved and which ones were not.
A generic report of blocked sites.
Another great feature that Mobicip has is the ability to block by Category.
You can also set time limits for internet usage.
We believe that the internet is way too dangerous to give our children free reign to use it as they wish. And having a browser with parental controls is just one piece of the puzzle. We also have other safeguards, such as turning all devices over to us each night.
Even with all the precautions we take, there is no foolproof method for keeping your child safe other than watching them 24 hours a day and prohibiting any devices. There is a time that our children need age-appropriate freedom so that when they enter the real world they will have experience navigating. The internet is part of the world they are growing up in. There is also a lot of information on the internet that they need for educational purposes, so what is a parent to do?
For us, monitoring our children’s internet usage is one of our top priorities in keeping them safe. Who else cares about their safety more than us? Staying on top of these types of issues will help teach them boundaries and know their limitations.
Feel free to post any questions in the comment section and I will be happy to answer them.
For additional information about Mobicip please click here
