parental controls

Recently, Meta announced it would be launching new parental safety controls for teens in the form of tools and resources for both the Instagram social media app and their Meta Quest VR gaming headsets. The goal is to help parents better …

We love when parents ask us "how do I know if my kid is ready for a cell phone?" It means you're conscientious, caring, and involved -- and of course, want to make sure that you're raising a kid to make good choices, and not who isn't th…

We've always said that raising digital natives, especially since we're not digital natives ourselves, means understanding the role of technology in our family. But when it comes to knowing what questions to ask (and answer), well, that c…

Parents of tweens and teens, we've got good news! YouTube is launching new parental controls specifically for kids in this age group. What a relief to those of us who see the value in letting them watch some of the content on YouTube...b…

If you've got a kid on an iPhone or an iPad, this week's iOS 13.3 update (as well as iPad OS 13.3 )has some serious parental controls that we think you'll be happy to know about. Introducing Communication Limits Starting his week, there'…

In our Out Tech Your Kids group on Facebook, we've had several questions about parental controls for Gmail, with so many kids needing and using email accounts. We did some research to see what parents can and can't do when it comes to mo…

We couldn't create an Ultimate Guide to Digital Parenting without including tips about how to keep your kids safe on social media. After all, for our tweens and teens, the Internet is social media, and they could sooner give up the games…

As part of our Ultimate Guide to Digital Parenting , answering parents' top questions about family technology, we're sharing the best services and tools to help you monitor your kids on their gadgets. While most routers, phones, tablets …

We're all for setting some smart parental controls on our kids' tech, and there are some great parenting controls built into the Xbox One that you might not know about it. From limiting screen time to blocking other users who might be in…

One of parents' biggest concerns about kids today, is the access they have to inappropriate content. Parents are often asking us for parental control devices, services and apps to help them moderate what kids' can see and keep them safe.…

No judgments, parents -- we too have admitted (often) that it can be hard to manage kids' screen time , especially when our kids get older and we're not attached at the hip. Well Apple gets it too, and in today's big iOS 12 announcement …

By now, everyone knows about Snapchat and kids right? It's like Snapchat has come to epitomize the "watch out for kids and their apps." But the truth is, there are so so many apps that can get kids into trouble, and it's hard to keep up …

When we were Apple newbies, my kids racked up quite a collection of paid apps before I realized what was happening. And I wasn't the only one. Apple ended up refunding lots of parents money for apps their kids bought . Then they set up t…

My internet at home has been so slow lately, so I recently upgraded to the top-of-the-line WiFi option our cable company offers. Even still, our service can get spotty when 6 people all arrive home, and want to get online at the same tim…

Does this situation sound familiar, parents? You're trying to get in touch with your tween or teen, but they're ignoring your texts because they're busy playing games on their phone, which also happens to be set on silent. Well, that's w…

Now that my son has a phone, as do all his friends, it's a whole new world of parenting. For now, he is content texting his friends yo, bruh, what's up and watching sports clips, but there will soon be a time when social networks come mo…

I hate to admit it, but I used to be that parent. You know the one who proclaimed her kids would never watch TV or play on a computer, and instead spend endless hours playing outside in any weather. (Torrential rainstorm? Builds characte…

H i Cool Mom Picks, I'm looking to purchase the best kids' tablet for a 3-year-old, and maybe one for an 8-year-old. What do you suggest? - Reader, via Facebook. Oh, to be a kid on Christmas morning opening up a brand new tablet to play …

A lot of our readers have been asking us about Circle with Disney , a new device on that market designed to connect to your WiFi specifically to help parents monitor their kids' internet usage and manage screen time. We were really curio…

We're continuing our series about kids and cell phones on behalf of our sponsor, the premium authorized Verizon retailer, Cellular Sales , because wow, do parents need help with this! And by parents, we mean, ourselves too! Because we kn…

When you think about cool, must-have gadgets, a router probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind (ahem, iPhone 6S , Santa). But if you're a parent of Internet-surfing kids (hello, Minecraft lovers), then this new router called To…

When I finally broke down and got my daughter an email account ( all my friends have one! actually does work sometimes) we had the long, requisite discussions about safety, etiquette, and responsibility. But wow, it turns out there's so …

Watching our kids maneuver their way through all this new tech is a joy. It's just so cool to see how much they're doing and learning on these glowing gadgets. But the other side of that is trying to stay on top of what they're watching,…

We are so excited about (and kind of in awe of) so many of the things that computers are doing for our kids, but the reality is, sometimes we need help managing their screen time. So many readers have written to us thanking us for tips l…