The Parental Guide to Ensuring Kids’ Digital Safety This Winter!

The cold and snowy winters make us want to huddle in front of the fireplace. The schools close for the winter holidays, and kids feel thrilled at the idea of having unlimited fun! That includes spending more time with screens and participating in holiday events. 

On the other end of the spectrum, parents have to accomplish an overwhelming number of tasks. They are busy preparing for the holiday feasts, buying presents for everyone, decorating the house, looking after the kids, and more. On top of that, they worry about the digital safety of kids and their excessive screen time! 

If you are facing similar problems, here are a few valuable tips to help you ensure that kids stay safe from digital threats and cold weather at the same time. So, let’s dive into it right away!

Tips to Ensure Kids’ Digital Safety 

Kids get bored easily which is why they need a variety of activities to keep them entertained and happy. Otherwise, they will seek comfort in screens because these little gadgets offer various means of entertainment, from games to social media apps, and more. 

If you detest the idea of your kids turning into couch potatoes with their faces glued to screens, you can try engaging them into the following activities and ensuring their digital safety. 

1 – Raise Awareness Against Digital Threats

Talk to your kids about the threats of the digital world, such as cyberbullying, racism, online grooming, identity theft, phishing attacks, piracy, etc. Tell them why oversharing personal information, such as legal name, banking information, residential/school address, cellphone numbers, etc., is dangerous and can put them at risk. You can show them real-world examples to help make a lasting impact on their minds, so they’ll take their digital wellness more seriously. 

2 – Try Balancing Their Screen Time

Balancing kids’ screen time seems like a herculean task since parents face a lot of resistance from kids. Regardless of how much kids protest about having to put down their devices, parents must engage them in screen-free activities to ensure they spend their time more productively. Thanks to the advancement of technology, you can use parental control apps like FamilyTime to help make things easier. It offers a Screen Time Limit feature that allows parents to limit kids’ screen time down to the minute.

3 – Restrict Access to Inappropriate Content/Apps

There is no limit to the inappropriate content that exists in the online world. Exposure to such content may affect kids in more ways than one. If kids get exposed to violent or explicit content online, it may ruin their innocence, childhood, and mental stability. It may normalize violence and sexual activities for kids to the point where they may think it appropriate. 

Therefore, parents must make special efforts to restrict kids’ access to such content. Fortunately, FamilyTime offers an impressive Internet Filter and App Blocker feature to help parents accomplish this arduous task. You can block indecent websites, content, and apps with the help of these features.

4 – Encourage Screen-free Activities 

You can make kids’ winters a lot more fun and enjoyable in a variety of ways. Create opportunities for them to engage in outdoor activities in addition to having fun inside the house. You can encourage kids to participate in fun-filled screen-free activities, such as ice skating, snowball fighting, sledding, playing family games, decorating the place for the holidays, and more. You can also allow kids to partake in selecting Christmas gifts for each other. 

5 – Include Kids in Holiday Preparations

The best way to get kids to put away screens, have fun, and help you accomplish a long list of tasks is by including them in holiday preparations. If your kids are above the age of eight, you can assign them easy-to-accomplish tasks such as choosing wrapping paper for the gifts, selecting decorations for the house, helping make to-do lists, assisting in cooking/baking, etc.

There are countless other ways you can engage kids this winter and keep them away from excessive screen time. If you find yourself at an impasse with kids and their screens, remember that FamilyTime can help!