14 Jul Exercising parental control over your kids’ use of the internet at home.
Time to exercise some parental control over your kids’ use of the internet at home.
The ongoing pandemic brought with it online studies for kids which left a lot of parents concerned about keeping their kids safe online. Regular online classes and regular research to complete online assignments among other online activities puts not only children but the whole family at risk of cyber-attacks. Fortunately, parents can reduce this risk by managing who has access to what online content, and when.
Parental controls can filter the web, blocking inadvertent access to inappropriate websites. There are a variety of ways to do this, from configuring network-wide parental controls on your router to using the parental controls built into Windows or third-party software.
Setting up parental controls on your Wi-Fi router
Before you can customize and manage your home’s internet connection, you’ll need to access your router’s settings. Most recent models offer companion apps that allow you to connect with your router and tweak settings to your liking.
Apps like those are a good starting point, and many offer some basic level of parental controls that you can experiment with. There are a number of ways to customize internet browsing, depending on your specific router’s features.
Some routers ship with built-in parental controls. If your router has this feature, it will often be advertised on the box and will generally be explained in the manual. You can go to the router’s web-based configuration pages and set up the parental controls for your network.
Many routers don’t include parental controls, but you can use OpenDNS to set up parental controls on any router.
Ways to customize internet browsing at home
- Limit internet time
Most routers with parental control options include a setting for scheduling. This means you can schedule the network to turn off at a certain time every day.
Some include scheduling for specific devices, so you can choose your child’s laptop, tablet or gaming console and disconnect it from the internet at, say, 8 p.m. every weeknight. Want to block everything? Look for options that let you group devices together.
- Restrict specific websites
In addition to scheduling, some routers include parental controls for specific sites. You can choose which URLs to block on different devices in your home, so you can keep your kids away from content you deem inappropriate or dangerous.
- Pause Wi-Fi
If you’re just looking to keep distractions at a minimum during dinnertime but don’t want to set up any specific schedules or restrictions, pausing the connection is your best bet.
Routers and mesh networks like Nest Wifi include companion apps that allow you to pause the internet connection on some or all devices and resume it as soon as you’re ready. Google’s second-gen Nest Wifi system adds Google Assistant voice controls into each extender, so you can just say, “OK Google, pause the kids’ Wi-Fi.”
NB.This is also pretty handy if your kids’ daily Wi-Fi consumption is interfering with things like work-related video calls.
- Add a router accessory
If you love the router you already own but want to add parental controls, there are add-on devices out there to help. Plug-in modules like the Circle Home Plus connect to your router and manage internet access and rules for multiple connected devices.
Some devices and apps can even budget a certain number of minutes to each device, then allow children to earn more internet time by doing chores around the house. That’s a great way to teach children to responsibly manage and balance their screen time without a parent wrenching the device out of their hands.
When you’re customizing your router settings or adding on a device to manage access, it’s important to take steps to keep everyone safe on the internet.
Corenet IT Limited offers professional assistance for wifi connectivity. Get in touch.