I have young children at home and I’d like to make sure they are safe online. What’s the easiest way to do this?

Online safety is very important for most parents. I can relate to the question as I have 3 kids at home (currently aged 10, 7 and 7) who have access to computers, tablets and phones that let them access anything they want online. As we all know, the Internet can be a source of great entertainment, allow them to tap into a wealth of knowledge and let them explore anything they like, but there’s also a dark underbelly that we are all painfully aware of.

So what options does a parent have? Well, at one end of the scale, they can allow unfettered access to the Internet and let the kids self-manage. At the other end, they can also turn off the Internet and deny all access. Most parents sit somewhere in the middle. There’s a number of options out there that can help you manage access, from settings on your router, all the way to monitoring software like spy software that keeps track of every aspect of your family’s online experience.

Most parental control packages allow parents to filter content and monitor websites that are being visited. They usually also provides time management functions so that access can be turned off at night, based on a child’s bedtime. One important feature is Chat Monitoring, where online conversations can be recorded and a parent can make sure that their child is not being threatened or bullied online.

It’s nice to see that the industry has developed to a point where monitoring software like this is available. I remember when I was a teenager getting introduced to computers, and my parents had no idea what I was doing online. The Internet was a different place then, but thanks to easy to use software like this, it can give parents the confidence that online spaces CAN be made space their their children allowed to explore to their heart’s content.