Mumsnet users share how you safeguard your children around digital technology in the home with Sky Kids

[EllieMumsnet]

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In this digital age devices such as: laptops, mobiles, tablets, game consoles and TV's all come second nature to many of our children as they are used frequently from a young age in the home. Although they can help children learn and play in so many amazing ways, it’s also important to keep them safe and ensure what they are viewing/playing is appropriate. With that in mind Sky Kids would love to know all the ways you try to keep your children safe when it comes to technology in the home and how you still allow a healthy/fun relationship with technology in your family.

Here’s what Sky Kids has to say: “At Sky, we care about helping to keep kids safe in the home. That’s why alongside parental controls on the Sky Kids App, we’ve also launched brand new Kids Safe Mode, where you can keep your Sky Q box locked in the Kids section, so when your kids are in charge of the remote they can only see and explore programmes that are appropriate for them. Wandering fingers won’t be able to adjust settings, delete non-Kids recordings or watch programmes made for grown-ups.”

Do you have timers on all the family’s devices to ensure that the children aren’t able to use them past a certain time? What about parental controls on your television? Or do you have kids safety modes on all the devices they use? Do you worry about what they’re able to access from their devices? Perhaps you encourage an open relationship with your children where you can all ensure everyone is watching age appropriate content/shows? Or maybe you use children specific apps on their phones, smart TVs or tablets so that you are sure they can only access things suitable for them?

Whatever the ways you keep your children safe when it comes to multimedia, share them on the thread below and everyone will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw.
MNHQ

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My children are old enough to deal with this itself, but I have parental restrictions on computer and television, so they have to come and ask to get on what are classed as unsuitable sites.

My Sky Q is has Kid Safe mode, and is pin protected and restrictions are put on all programmes and channels I don't want DS1 and DS2 watching when I am not in the room. My ISP has restrictions too, and goes off at 8pm - so they know not to ask for tablets in bed.

I have home halo which is configured to my modem, DS1 and 2 have their tables connected to this, so they have only filtered content, I have had the Sky Q for just over a year, and have set up the PIN for channels I want to exclude. Screen time is different on a school day than holidays and weekends. It seems to work fine, but I'm open to suggestion for different methods of controlling internet and Sky Q use, I'm not the best at keeping up with changes in technology.

Ours have time limits and they are only allowed to use their tablets downstairs. I worry more about once they are older and have things like phones and access to YouTube etc. I think it is fairly easy to manage while they are young but I feel quite daunted by navigating technology with teenagers

Parental controls and tablet is kept in parents bedroom so it need to be asked for and we know when she's on it.

I don’t let toddlers or young children on technology. They need to be 9+.
When they do go on the laptop for example I make sure I am nearby so I can see what’s going on to some extent.
With my teenagers I tell them to be careful what they say, it can be screenshot or people aren’t necessarily who they are say are. Don’t give away too much info - there’s no need to check into the cinema on fb and say ‘wow can’t wait to see the Whatever movie’ you are literally telling everyone exactly where you are They can tell me if there are any problems.

We occasionally watch YouTube videos but I always make sure I'm around when it finishes so it doesn't automatically go onto the next one without me seeing. 5 year old doesn't have his own tablet and when he uses one of ours it's on aeroplane mode so he can't get online. We watch cbeebies or DVDs so no ads.

Spend time with them when they're having their screen time rather than using it as a babysitting service and not supervising them while they're online.

I have parental controls set on any devices that the DC use.

Do you have timers on all the family’s devices to ensure that the children aren’t able to use them past a certain time?

I have used the admin settings on my BT modem to ensure there is no internet use passed 8pm on the tablets, and have set the parental controls to max (which can be a pain as some bone fide sites I want to access have been restricted)

What about parental controls on your television?

My SKYQ has a pin for everything but the children's channels.

Or do you have kids safety modes on all the devices they use?

The family Ipad has a pin - I had to google how to do this - but once you know where it is in the settings - it's easy.

Do you worry about what they’re able to access from their devices?

No, not yet, but when they are older and have less restrictions and I have to trust them more - the content on YouTube horrifies me - as does social media - but I am hoping when the time comes this content would be 'policed' much better.

Perhaps you encourage an open relationship with your children where you can all ensure everyone is watching age appropriate content/shows?

I would like to be able to trust them to watch age appropriate content, by guidance and trust.

Or maybe you use children specific apps on their phones, smart TVs or tablets so that you are sure they can only access things suitable for them?

Yes they have their own log in on the Ipad with bespoke settings, and screen times.

I make a conscious effort to reduce my time on-line - checking my emails etc as I fee you need to be a good roll model when it comes to being on line. I believe a tablet should not be used as a 'babysitter' and you should sit with your child when they are using a tablet, and keep the times to a minimum. Three is the earliest I loaded a game for my DS, and we sat together. I have Sky Q and there is a lovely range of programmes, I keep the remote control out of their height so they cannot change channels - but they don't ask for this too, I have the SkyQ App on the tablet and we use this for long journeys to play together when we can get WiFI.

At the moment we just supervise, might have to figure something out soon though

Ours have Kindle Fire Kids so we mostly trust that the age appropriate settings really are. If they're using our computers/tablets/phones for any reason we supervise.

I might get a flaming but I have never worried too much about it. Dd does have a tablet but isn't really fussed about going on it and I think that might be because I haven't made a big thing of it or talked about it much. She has the kids youtube app which is safer than the normal youtube and if she goes on it, I'm sitting next to her anyway.

My DD is almost 3, she is only allowed to use the tablet under our supervision. We have parental locks on and me and my partner have checked all apps. It only has what we allow on it. Same goes for the laptop. Only allowed videos on YouTube we put on whilst watching with her.

My DS has a tablet which he can only watch downloaded content on or age appropriate games. The TV has a pin. He is not allowed to watch YouTube as it's full of rubbish and too easy to watch unsuitable things. The only thing he looks at on our phones is photos.

My children only have one shared iPad that they access when I am around and for a limited time. My eldest daughter has a phone which we got as we needed to prepare her for secondary school, she only has it if we need to contact her and we are slowly allowing her to email and text us. It is an Apple phone and linked to my husbands account so she cannot get any apps unless he approves them. We know the password and keep it in our room unless we need her to have it.
We also talk about online safety and some of the basic ideas of stranger danger.

Parental control on DD(11) phone. Time limits on apps. I used to check messages every few days though she is very good at showing me anything she is not sure of so I do it less now. No phone in the bedroom at night. I have to approve all apps and have refused several of them.

TV/internet etc is set with parental controls too.

Our son is 6. We have a PIN set on the TV which is great, although he's rarely watching it without one of us in the room!
Fortunately he's showing less of an interest in the tablet since the weather has warmed up & prefers to be outside on his bike (hurray!!) but I know it will be an issue again when winter comes! The tablet is a Kids Kindle Fire so he only accesses the kids content. There is a pin on there for the standard account so he cannot access this, although he's never tried.
When he starts asking about Youtube etc, I'll be reading threads like this for advice!! It's extremely hard to monitor, even with the kids app you still get some weird content coming through so it's better to stay with them I think so you can be sure what they're watching.

My eldest DD (11) has a phone now but it is restricted so that it automatically blocks her from using it past 9pm, and she cannot download apps etc without me approving it first. She also has to 'request' screentime for each individual app so I know exactly what she is doing on her phone.

My DC doesn’t get much media time at all. TV etc. is always under supervision and stuff that we’ve chosen (or DC can choose from a pre-determined list).

Amazon’s parental controls are amazing for limiting screen time and only allowing suitable content through. Beyond that I have rules on my router which has essentially a different network for me and my devices. DS and guests get the internet stopped at 8. There is some filtering but I’m still playing with it.

Supervised screen time and child apps only on the iPad. I also like the parental controls on the switch. My 7 yr old was a bit horrified how long he had spent one weekend on the switch and has been better at choosing other activities since this. I'm trying to encourage them to put screens down and do other things voluntarily rather than constantly imposing time limits on them

We bought ours Kids Kindles for Christmas, which are great as you can be sure they're only able to access age-appropriate content and don't have access to the internet. It means that I'm happy to leave them more unsupervised if I need to be out of the room e.g cooking. Our other tablet is only used with supervision and my Kindle has a lock screen so they can't independently access that.

We have discussed about not clicking on any adds that may pop up and to let us know straight away if they see anything that makes them uncomfortable. As they get older (eldest is 6) we'll talk more about sensible posting and online interactions. Fortunately my husband is very tech-savvy and we both game online so I feel we do have a bit of experience of what we need to watch out for. Supervision and education are the keys!

Supervision here too for our 3 year old. It's tough though as I can't even pop out of the room when YouTube is on in case inappropriate adverts come on. I do worry for when he's bigger.