<p>Are you planning to give your child a smartphone, tablet, or console this holiday season? Before you wrap it (if you haven&#8217;t already) consider doing a few things first. </p> <span id="more-11559"></span> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Set Expectations</h3> <p>The number one piece of advice I give parents when buying their child a device is to set expectations. You need to decide what kind of restrictions you&#8217;ll put in place and how you want it to be used. Will you limit how often and how long they&#8217;re allowed to use it? Will you limit the types of games they&#8217;re allowed to play? All of these things should be thought about before you give them the device so you can set their expectations after they receive it. </p> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Device Controls</h3> <p>Nearly every electronic device comes with some form of parental controls. I&#8217;ve advocated for them for over 10 years and companies are finally making it easier for parents to manage how, when, and how long their children use their devices.</p> <p><a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208982"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Screen Time (iOS)</span></a> &#8211; Apple has always had a walled garden so you&#8217;ll either need to manage your child&#8217;s device directly or use another iOS device. Screen Time has great controls and works well with Family Sharing.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://families.google.com/familylink/">Family Link (Android)</a> </span>If you got your child any smartphone besides an iPhone you most-likely will use Family Link to manage parental controls. Fortunately, they have an iOS app too.</p> <p><a href="https://amzn.to/3gZVqz2"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Amazon FreeTime</span></a> Fire tablets, TVs, and even Alexa-enable devices can be managed with Amazon&#8217;s FreeTime. In my experience, Amazon has the weakest controls.</p> <p>Consoles: The <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/switch/parental-controls/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nintendo Switch</span></a> and <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-US/apps/family-settings-app"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">XBox</span></a> both have dedicated apps that you can use to manage parental controls on their consoles. Sony&#8217;s <a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/parental-controls/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Playstation</span></a> requires you to use a browser or its general Playstation app.</p> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Network Controls</h3> <p>For whole-house Internet controls you can turn to your router or a secondary device. If you&#8217;re using the router your Internet provider installed, check with them for information on parental controls. I suggest either a second router for the kids or Circle by Disney.</p> <p><a href="https://amzn.to/37onyZl"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Circle Home Plus</span></a> &#8211; The&nbsp;Circle Home Plus device&nbsp;connects with your router to manage every Internet-connected device on your home network.</p> <p>Home Router &#8211; Every home router these days has some level of parental controls. Check your manufacturer&#8217;s website for instructions to configure those settings.</p> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Software and Apps</h3> <p>No solution will fully protect you and your children so if you need to take a belt and suspenders approach I recommend installing an app on their device for additional monitoring.</p> <p><a href="https://thewiredhomeschool.com/ce"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Covenant Eyes</span></a> &#8211; I&#8217;ve been an advocate (and affiliate) for Covenant Eyes for over a decade. They&#8217;re the gold-standard when it comes to monitoring and filtering.</p> <p><a href="https://www.accountable2you.com/?code=19877592"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Accountable2You</span></a> &#8211; If you&#8217;re looking for the best bang for your buck, Accountable2You has got you covered. It occasionally triggers false alarms but I&#8217;ve still found it to be a useful tool.</p> <div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"> <div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity"/> <p>If you found value in this episode of The Wired Homeschool, consider a donation that reflects the value you received by <a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/johnwilkerson"><strong>buying me a coffee</strong></a>.</p> </div></div> <p>Follow the podcast on <a href="https://thewiredhomeschool.com/itunes"><strong>Apple Podcasts</strong></a>, <a href="https://thewiredhomeschool.com/spotify"><strong>Spotify</strong></a>, <strong><a href="https://thewiredhomeschool.com/subscribe">and more</a></strong>.</p> <p style="font-size:12px">Music for the podcast is “Loopster” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</p> <p class="has-background" style="background-color:#d8d8d8;font-size:12px">Some of the links in the posts on this site are “affiliate links.” That means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive a commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s&nbsp;16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”</p> </div></div>