How To Monitor Your Children's Online Activity

Creating an environment of trust and privacy for your child improves the effectiveness of the monitoring process and strengthens the parent-child relationship.

Overly intrusive monitoring can break trust and make children feel that their parents do not believe in their ability to make responsible decisions. By striking a balance, parents show their children that they recognize their need for privacy and independence, which is essential as they grow and form their identities.

When children feel their parents trust and respect their privacy, they are more willing to openly communicate about their experiences and challenges they have faced online. Open communication allows children to share more information while parents gain insights into monitoring their children’s online activities effectively.

Other benefits of balancing trust and privacy when monitoring your children’s online activities include:

• • Fostering responsibility: When children know they have a certain level of privacy, they learn to be responsible so that they maintain the trust their parents have in them.
  • Avoiding secrecy: An intrusive parent who monitors excessively can make their children more secretive, hiding their activities or bypassing parental control measures. A balance of trust and privacy prevents such behaviors and helps parents easily guide and monitor their children.
  • Supports independence: A balanced approach to monitoring allows a child to become more independent and fosters self-confidence and decision-making skills. An environment where children do not feel controlled or constrained enables them to be more independent.
  • Prevents rebellion: An environment where a parent is heavy-handed can lead to children, especially teenagers, harboring resentment towards or rebelling against their parents. Balancing trust and privacy can minimize conflict and resistance while making children follow the rules and guidelines set by the parent.

Balancing trust and privacy helps children grow to be well-adjusted and responsible internet users. This balance ensures that online monitoring focuses on guidance and protecting children from potential online threats rather than controlling them, resulting in a safer and more trusting family environment.

Having the right educational resources and parental tools and services can help you provide internet security solutions and ensure the safety of your children while they navigate the internet. Let’s look at some of the best resources available to help you monitor your child’s online activities:

eero Plus – Best overall
eero Plus is a subscription service that enhances your internet with additional security features beyond standard eero offerings. Within its Family Profiles settings, parents or guardians can create custom content filters and set specific filter levels tailored to age groups or content categories. You’ll also be able to access insights into blocked content, making sure your family is protected from unsuitable online material. eero Plus goes beyond parental controls to protect your family in other ways. Learn why eero Plus is worth getting. Astound provides eero Secure, which includes some of these advanced security features, in our basic Whole Home WiFi subscription at no additional charge.

Qustodio – Best for monitoring
Qustodio stands out for its thorough monitoring features. These features give parents insights into how their kids use their devices, including social media monitoring, call and text tracking, site blocking and time management.

Norton Family – Best for big families
Norton Family is ideal for households with a large number of children. A parent can track and monitor all family devices from a single account. It offers location tracking, web filtering and screen time limits.

Kaspersky Safe Kids – Best value
Kaspersky Safe Kids is a comprehensive and cost-effective parental control software for computers and mobile devices that does not limit the number of devices you can monitor. It includes a parent dashboard to oversee all activities, location tracking, web filtering, and screen time limits. It offers a freemium model, or you can pay to unlock more features.

In addition to using parental control software, parents can benefit from accessing educational resources that offer guidance on keeping children secure online. Some of the most reputable organizations that provide relevant guidelines and resources for parents include:

OnGuardOnline
OnGuardOnline is an educational resource platform under the Federal Trade Commission that provides practical tips on guarding against internet fraud, social media privacy and securing your WiFi. This website provides resources for educators and parents to teach children about online dangers and how to navigate them safely.

Netsmartz.org
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) launched Netsmartz.org, an internet security educational platform that offers various resources for parents and educators. The platform delivers age-appropriate videos and interactive activities to help teach children to be safer online.

Staysafeonline.org
The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) powers the staysafeonline.org platform, which provides information through games and interactive activities to parents and children on how to stay safe online. It offers tips for monitoring a child’s internet activities and identifying signs of online risks.

Empowering parents with the right tools, resources and internet security practices is crucial for safeguarding their children’s online safety. Parents can effectively monitor their kids’ online activities through open communication, setting rules and using parental control software. In addition, educational resources from organizations like OnGuardOnline and Netmartz.org inform parents about the latest in online safety.

You can make the internet safer for your kids while safeguarding them from threats by combining these resources and strategies and striking a balance between privacy and trust when monitoring their online activities.