Calling All Parents: Tech Tips & Tools to Monitor Your Kids Online
This is an encore webinar due to multiple requests from RETI members
With mobile devices, social media, gaming, YouTube, messaging platforms, and more, it is not easy raising kids these days. And most parents struggle to figure out how to monitor their kid’s tech usage. And every time you think you’ve found a solution, your kid figures out how to circumvent your efforts, and then you are back to square 1 again.
If you are a parent who struggles with raising kids in this digital world, you don’t want to miss this webinar as RETI CEO and parent of 2, Craig Grant will share some tips on how to best manage this scary world.
Some of the Tips, Tools, and Resources covered include how to:
- Use wi-fi safely
- Have proper password protection
- Protect your devices with the best anti-virus
- Put parental controls on all your kids’ devices
- Disable incognito or private browsing
- Safe sites for them to browse, search, get news & more (list below video)
- Life360
- NetNanny
- Qustodio
- Bark.us
- And More
Instructor: Craig Grant
Wednesday, April 1 @ 3 PM EST
Cyber Security Basics for Kids and Adults
- – Understand the dangers of WiFi and make sure you use a secure connection in public by using your phone’s personal hotspot or use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
- – Have strong passwords on all your accounts using a strategy like the Base Psychology Method
- – Be aware of phishing scams and be sure to slow down and pay attention for sometimes obvious tip-offs like header information, misspellings, improper URL links, etc. and stop clicking on links unless you know they are legit and totally safe.
- – Make sure you have optimal anti-virus protection on all of your devices. Recommended ones include AVG, Avast, and Malware Bytes.
- – Be proactive in protecting your online reputation and realize that anything you put online is accessible to the world and can have a permanent negative impact. Be sure to discuss with your kids that a single post online can lead to bullying at their school and loss of friends/status now, but down the road could cost them the ability to get a good job, entry into their desired college, etc.
How to Set Up Parental Controls on All Their Devices
- – Microsoft 10 or Xbox = family.microsoft.com and turn on Ask a Parent
- – MAC = System Preferences > Family Sharing
- – iOS = Settings > Screen Time > This is My Childs Device https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304
- – Android = Play Store > Settings > Parental Controls > Create a Pin
- – Chrome Browser = Profile Picture > Manage People > Add Person > For My Child
How to Disable Incognito Mode in Chrome
- – Windows 10 https://geekermag.com/disable-incognito-mode-chrome-windows-10/
- – MAC – https://www.technipages.com/chrome-disable-incognito-mode
- – iOS – https://osxdaily.com/2018/02/14/disable-private-browsing-ios-completely/
- – Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.beatapper.disablesecret
- Note: You will need to deactivate registry keys which require some technical skill/understanding, so you may need to seek assistance for this if you are not tech-savvy. If your kids use other browsers such as Firefox, Edge, Safari, etc. you can google instructions on how to disable private browsing windows in each browser.
Safe Online Resources
Safe Search & Browsing
- http://www.kiddle.co
- http://kidoz.net
- http://www.kidzsearch.com
- http://www.kidsclick.org
- www.safesearchkids.com
Safe School & Learning
- I-Ready.com
- ProdigyGame.com
- Pebblego.com
- Bookflix
- ABCMouse.com
- KahnAcademy.org/Kahn-Academy-Kids/
- Kids.NationalGeographic.com
- https://www.youtubekids.com
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid
- http://www.getgamesmart.com Gaming info
Safe News
- http://press4kids.com/
- http://news.nick.com/
- http://tweentribune.com/
- http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/
- http://www.getgamesmart.com Gaming info
Safe Communication
Cyber Bullying
- http://cyberbullying.us/index.php Cyber Bullying
- http://www.dosomething.org Bullying & Cyber Bullying
Tools to Monitor Your Kids Online Activity
- – Life360.com – Private Circles allows you to see and track your family’s locations, activities, etc. in real-time, be notified if any member goes to restricted areas, has a low battery level, etc. for free. Add local area crime and offender reporting for $2.99/mo and driver tracking for $7.99/mo
- – NetNanny.com, Qustodio.com, WebWatcher.com, FamilyTime.io, EsEt.com – Monitor, track, restrict and block your kids’ online activity, downloads, installs, purchases, etc. Prices vary based on the vendor and how many devices you need to monitor.
- – Bark.us – Tracks activity on over 20 social media, SMS Text and messaging platforms including Snapchat, TicToc, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. and even uses AI to try and detect any potentially harmful activity such as cyberbullying or inappropriate content. $9/mo for unlimited kids and devices.
Hi reti,
I had an opportunity to review your resource guide. Varsity Tutors is the largest live learning platform in the United States and we’ve recently added numerous free resources to help students and parents cope with school closures due to COVID-19. We’ve had more than 100,000 registrations for our free live online classes in the last month. Would you consider adding our free resources to your existing list?
Virtual School Day: Over 100 free live K-12 classes available all day long intended to help parents fill their children’s day with enriched learning. Some popular classes are “Intro to Spanish for Kids”, “Coolest Women in History”, “Java Programming Basics”, and “The Story of Your Favorite Fairy Tales”. We have received exceptional ratings from thousands of parents and students. More info here: https://www.varsitytutors.com/virtual-school-day
Virtual Summer Camps: Free half-day summer camps will be a week-long, with enrichment-based classes in subjects like foreign languages, chess, theater, coding, Minecraft, how to be a detective, photography and more. These live, interactive classes will be taught by expert instructors vetted through Varsity Tutors’ platform. We already have 200 camps scheduled for the summer. More info here: https://www.varsitytutors.com/virtual-summer-camps
Would you consider adding Virtual School Day or Virtual Summer Camps to this resource list?: https://dev.reti.us/tipstricks/calling-all-parents-tech-tips-tools-to-monitor-your-kids-online-2/
I am happy to send more details on these programs. Now more than ever, students and parents should look to experts in online learning to understand how they can keep their children academically and emotionally sound. I sincerely hope you will consider sharing our resources.
Hi Lucy,
We don’t typically accept content from outside resources, but I’ll look into what you provided and see if it makes sense to do so for that content piece on our site. Thank you.