You Don’t Have to be Tech Savvy to Have Parental Controls

by Kathy A. Palomo, B.S., M.Ed.

Recently, the magazine, Family Circle, published an article (February 2010) by Christina Tynan-
Wood entitled “Mission: Control.” She talks about the difficulty in having a teen that could
possibly be obsessed with his computer…or is he just a typical teen distracted by all the
information overload found on MySpace, Facebook, Google, gaming, etc.? As parents, we have
to develop a tough skin to protect our children as they explore the internet. Several options
exist that will help your child better self-manage his time when faced with the temptation of
the next best game instead of homework!

OnlineFamily.Norton.com

FREE! This gives you the control to define how many hours/day you want your child on the
computer. It allows site blocking and makes certain hours off-limits. Monitoring from your
computer is a breeze; you will know exactly where your child has been online, and it includes
Instant Messaging information. You can vary the settings based on the age of your child and be alerted to suspicious activity.

NetNanny.com

Retail $39.99 Schedule internet access, block games by specific content (Ex. Blood and Gore),
and control social networking sites! Net Nanny gives you peace of mind by sending you an
email and mobile alerts when your child tries going to the forbidden zone. You can control file
sharing, inappropriate comments/vulgar language can be blocked, and personal information
posted can be monitored. Net Nanny received PC Magazine's Editors' Choice Award for
Internet parental control software for the third time in a row. Currently being marketed at 25%
off! https://www.netnanny.com/store/newcart

Windows Vista and Windows 7

FREE-$119+ for upgrade Parent controls are built-in to help you determine which games
are acceptable, set a time limit for computer/internet use which will automatically render the
computer inoperable after the set time, and block downloads. A child will have the option to
request permission for access to a blocked activity. All programs, downloads, emails, and
Instant Messaging is monitored.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/set-up-parental-controls