In this day and age where technology plays a big role in our everyday lives, it's no longer a surprise seeing kids using their own gadgets. My 3 kids are aged, 9, 6 and 4 years old, as of now, they only share one iPad and I sometimes let them use my smartphone to watch and play. Right now, I am already anticipating that when they are old enough they would already ask for their own smartphones. And, it sure is like a scary time for me. I am sure all moms' with preteens and teenagers could understand. Of course, we want our kids to have access to all the good things about phones and the internet, but we also know there is a potential that they could get into trouble. Good thing, smartphone monitoring service has been invented. So it is best to strike a compromise with our kids, we can let them use their phones while still letting us make sure they were staying safe. One smartphone monitoring service is that I know of is TeenSafe, since it came highly recommended by other mom's online.
Here are some features of TeenSafe that will Surely Help Protect our Kids:
Reading SMS messages
This one is important. The service allows you to read sent and received SMS messages and even look at deleted ones as well. This feature doesn't intend parents to be nosey, it is used to make sure that our kids aren’t talking to people they shouldn’t be. If they’re talking to friends, that’s great! If they’re talking to strangers, then we’d need to sit down and have a talk. This feature will also make sure our kids are engaging in age-appropriate activities.
Call monitoring
Similar to being able to read messages, the service also allows you to see your kid’s call log. This lets us know what kind of people they’re conversing with. Again, our guard is up about strangers they could meet on the internet so if we see any unknown numbers in our kids’ phone logs, we can ask them about it. It helps us to stay connected and drives home the point that it’s important to be careful about who you’re talking to.
Contact list access
By having the ability to access the contacts in our kids’ phone, we can again see who they’re interacting with. We place a high degree of emphasis on this because it’s so easy for a young person to get caught up with the wrong kind of people. We’re not snooping here, but we can let our kids know that we’re keeping an eye on who they’re communicating with.
Location tracking
TeenSafe allows parents to track current and past locations of a phone in order to get an idea of where their kids are or have been. I find this feature to be useful from a safety perspective because it will let us know that our kids are where they say they’re going to be. If we see that they’re not, it’s a red flag and we’ll check in with them to make sure everything’s okay.
Website information
The ability to see what websites our kids are visiting will surely come in handy. One big thing this allows us to do is to ensure they are visiting sites that are appropriate for them to be viewing. It also helps us monitor their social media usage, as that can not only get to be excessive at times but can also be a source of cyberbullying. That’s something we’re always on guard about since it’s often not something a kid will tell their parent is occurring.
Those are five great ways that TeenSafe can help us feel more comfortable with our kids’ usage of technology. Using the service in conjunction with open communication and expectations will be a great tool for all parents like me. If you’re concerned about the ways in which your kid uses their phone, consider looking into the service further.
Have you tried other smartphone monitoring services? I'd love to hear about it!
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