The World Wide Web is endless, providing people from all walks of life entertainment and information at will. Children are especially curious, so they are more than likely going to spend more time surfing the web than adults. For this reason, parents need to find effective ways to keep them safe, when they are online. If you are not familiar with the dangers lurking on every corner of the Internet, you may want to start your quest with thorough research. Below, you will discover several tips that will help you keep your child safe, when they are online.
Know Who Your Child Is Talking To
It is not unusual for a young child to have an account on every social media platform, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. These are wonderful and safe places to meet and communicate with others, but it can also pose some dangers for young children. Just because someone presents to your child as a 9 year old, will not always make it so. In fact, many predators will utilize social media platforms to access small children. Get to know the people your child is communicating with, by contacting them directly. If they post photos do a quick reverse image search to see if those photos have been stolen from someone else. That is a sure sign they are not who they claim to be.
If your child utilizes a cellphone, you can always take advantage of parental control apps, which offer an array of benefits. You can block mysterious calls from strangers to reduce the risk of them coming into contact with a predator.
Restrict Downloads
Children are continuously downloading and uploading files. There is just something about these processes that children find exciting. While most children will stick with video game apps for downloading, others will go beyond the norm and download apps just because they look interesting. When your child is downloading files and apps, you honestly do not know what type of content is housed in them. In fact, they could be downloading an app that appears to be educational related, but in fact it is contains adult material.
When a parental control app, like Kidgy it is possible to determine what applications and programs your child has downloaded on their smartphone. You can even do this without the child ever finding out that you are checking up on them. Even though your child is young, they still take their privacy very seriously.
Monitor Websites Accessed By Your Child
Back in the day, parents could access cookies on their child’s computer to see which websites they visited. Today, children will erase the cookies, just so their parents cannot find out this information. What your child does not know is you have parental control apps at your disposal. These apps are designed to allow parents to access the websites their children visit on their cellphone. This software is worth millions to parents, who are concerned about their children’s safety, when they are browsing the Internet.
By accessing the current website history, you will be able to find out what type of content your child is viewing. No parent wants to think of their child gaining access to adult or provocative content that is inappropriate for young children. With the parental control app, you will be able to utilize discretion, when monitoring your child’s online activities.
Block Inappropriate Websites
While some parental control apps provide parents access to websites frequented by their children, others will allow them to block the inappropriate websites. This is definitely a great feature that will prove to be valuable for parents that are concerned about their child’s safety online. By blocking the website, your child will no longer be able to access it. This will not only offer convenience, but also give you peace of mind, since you cannot monitor your children every minute of the day.
Locate Your Child Outside The Home
Most cellphones are embedded with a GPS, which allows others to pinpoint their exact location. When children are outside alone, parents can never be assured of their safety. It is not unusual for a parent to become concerned, when they cannot contact their child on their cellphone. If your child’s phone is embedded with a GPS, you will be able to pinpoint their exact location in a matter of seconds. Some parental control apps offer GPS location with a very detailed map, which will help you find the child with ease.
With summer vacation approaching, you might be wondering what your children are going to be doing this year with all that time off. We’ve put together some things to try out with the kids that’ll keep them busy and hopefully save you money too.
Do some decorating
Whether it’s painting the walls, upcycling a chair, or scouring curbs for tossed treasures, summer is prime time for decorating and designing. The warmer days should make paint dry faster and you’ll go back to school or work knowing that you’ve improved your home.
Yard sale
If you’ve got some junk to get rid of at home, or want to encourage the kids to give up their old toys, a yard sale could be a fun way to make some money and know that you’re not just throwing your old things away. The get the kids more involved, why not add an incentive like allowing them to keep the money made from their toys, or give a prize to the child that sells the most?
Wash the car
Something as simple as washing the car can be really fun on a hot day. Kids love to make a mess and they’ll have great fun spraying the hose and you can reward them by having a water fight at the end! You can also try using an eco-friendly soap from Fragile Earth.
Try some summer recipes
The amount of clever summer recipes are endless, and there are lots of child-friendly ideas that are simple and fun like making smoothies or real-fruit popsicles.
Do some gardening
Vegetables such as beetroot and salad onions are perfect for planting in the warmer months and do not take long to grow. Kids will love seeing them grow and having them to help with the planting might even make them more likely to eat them!
Do you have any other ideas of how to keep your kids busy over summer vacation? Whatever you do this summer – have fun and keep learning!
Written by Laura Hall at Shiply.
Do you ever worry that your children don’t seem to love being outdoors as much as they should do? There’s so much to enjoy about nature, but in an age of gaming, virtual reality and relentless selfie-taking it can be hard to imagine how our children are ever going to appreciate the world outside their screens.
But, it’s certainly possible for children to enjoy technology and the modern world while also appreciating the great outdoors and the timeless cycle of nature. Here are five things you can do to encourage your kids to love it…
- Show no fear
Worms, spiders, creepy crawlies, mud, petting cows and saying hello to horses… it’s all part and parcel of loving the great outdoors, which is why it’s important you lead by example when it comes to interacting with nature. Don’t screech, screw your face up or refuse to touch something: your children will copy you, so get down in the mud and be prepared to make friends with animals and insects!
- Gather treasures
Kids love gathering ‘treasure’, so why not encourage them to view the things that the natural world provides as treasure? Rocks, flowers and feathers can all make beautiful treasures, so organise weekend ‘treasure hunts’ (i.e. walks in the woods), make a treasure box to keep things in, or even do arts and crafts projects using the treasures they’ve gathered.
- Prep them out for the great outdoors
Nature can be beautiful, but it can also be wet, cold and miserable if your kids aren’t wearing the proper clothing. So, make sure they have walking boots, wellies, rain coats, water proof trousers, rucksacks, camping gear – basically everything that helps them to stay comfortable, warm, dry and blister-free. That’s the only way you’re going to have half a chance of getting them outside and staying there. You can find these bits and bobs somewhere like Muddy Puddles, and good quality items will serve as brilliant hand-me-downs to smaller children.
- Plant and forage for things to eat
The natural world provides us with so many tasty treats, so why not introduce your children to them so they learn that good food doesn’t just come from the supermarket? Grow strawberry and raspberry bushes, forage for apples, go fruit picking, ask them to pick you some herbs from the garden for dinner, and take them blackberry picking in autumn. These kinds of things strengthen associations between food, good tastes and textures, and the fact it all comes from nature.
- Give them a special section of the garden
Finally, if you’re lucky enough to have the space, give your kids a patch of garden of their own. Sure, they may just want to make mud pies in it, but that kind of ownership of outdoor space will encourage them to spend time outside come rain or shine. If you’re lucky they’ll fancy growing vegetables, which will be a fail-safe way to get them to eat their greens at the table!
Boy do these playhouses make me wish for the days when my littles were little. They had a nice indoor tepee (we still have it actually) and several cardboard playhouses (remember the ice cream truck) but these take the concept of an indoor fort or playhouse to a new level. And to think I spent my childhood draping sheets over furniture!
Any of these playhouses would make an amazing addition to a child’s room or a rec room. Enjoy!
Giant Whale Playhouse – Oh how I love this. How many hours of creative play and underwater imaging can your child have with this whale playhouse?
I love how colorful and unique this Geodome playhouse is. It looks so roomy and the bright colors make me think of rainbows and sunshine.
Your little outdoor adventurer and Indiana Jones wannabe will need a base camp like this adventurer playhouse. It is rugged and campy and if you have a boy scout or a girl scout they will love this one.
This camper playhouse is so much fun! It even has awnings and curtains. Oh and you actually can buy the cloth campfire with smores!
We have a plain tepee but I love this flower tepee. I think girls would especially love it.
This whimsical toadstool playhouse is just perfect. I adore it so much! It would make the ultimate fantasy playroom.
If your kiddo loves fantasy, monsters, dragons and the like then they will adore this monster playhouse. For some reason it reminds of Angry Birds, which my son loves. I am pretty sure he would want this right now, even though he is ten.
This playhouse is for those with limited space. It can be hung on a doorway or hallway.
Plastic cups for soooo yesterday! Nowadays it is easy to buy kids plates, utensils, and drinking cups without having to resort to cheap plastic just because you are afraid of breakage. Yes, you may not want to give them your regular dinnerware or china because it can be dangerous if they break it. Trust me I know, my youngest ran through the house with ceramic bowl when he was a toddler. He fell on it, broke it, and has a nice scar as a reminder of the experience.
Plastic is not your only option though…it’s only the ugliest and most wasteful. Newer stainless cups, plates, and utensils do not break and they also do not have the chemical nasties and toxins that plastic does. Stainless lasts a long time and through multiple children so they are economical as well as practical, even if the per piece price is a bit more than what you can buy in the kiddie section at Walmart. Look at the stainless options available and fall in love.
Stainless Steel Dish Set for Kids, with Plate, Bowl, and Cup:
Kids Stainless Steel Utensil Set:
