I had previously written about how we make use of modern technologies to parent our children and at the same time, educate and learn as we journey into the world of parenthood.
As parents, I absolutely believe there is no way we can avoid and shun our lives from technology and modern devices. It intertwined with almost every aspect of our lives and I feel that the best way is to embrace these technologies but still keep them to a moderate level and of course, being there with our kiddos as we grow along together.
With an Intel® Core™ M processor in our Acer Switch 12 device, it means we get the best of both worlds - a laptop and an ultra-fast tablet useful for our family. I'm very blessed with the magic it does in our everyday lives but as our kiddos grow older and smarter, as parents, we do have to continue to take control and monitor what they do and watch and make sure they don't get too addicted or overly dependent on these modern devices.
So for today's post, I will share with you on our family guidelines on the technology usage for our children.
For our Windows computer, I have added in a Child account since I do let our kiddos use my computer for web browsing and watching educational YouTube videos. Some of the awesome features for this allows me:
- To block certain websites when my child is using the Windows device for browsing
- To enforce control on apps, games and media whether they can download any apps based on the age settings I put in
- To put in control on the screen time whether they can only use my Windows device on certain days (Monday to Sunday) or time range (from what time to what time) and limit of hours' usage on the device
All these awesome measures help us to better monitor our kiddos and yet allowing them to still use our Windows device sensibly.
We also check from time to time certain games that our kiddo loves playing such as Minecraft. My hubby sometimes plays together with our eldest kiddo, going on adventures or free-play mode as we work together to explore and build cool stuff in the game.
I'm amazed with the things that our boy build and also of the things he learned just by playing games like this (survival skills, basic how-to build and hunt knowledge and assembling weapons for defence and hunting and more) Because of his passion in Minecraft, we also load reliable parent-approved video channels/playlists for our boy to watch. These videos are normally game tutorials on how to play the games and review of the games etc. In addition to that, the Acer Switch that we use has a long battery life allowing me & my kiddo’s learning experience to continue longer compared to our other IT devices.
I also have a tasks reward points system for our older 2 kiddos where they get to earn points for accomplishing daily tasks and if their points reached a certain level, they get to redeem certain rewards such as jelly beans for snacks and the ultimate reward which is an hour usage of our tablet or computer.
With all these controls in place, I hope that we will continue to be able to parent our kiddos while we reap the positive impact from using these modern technologies in our daily lives.
In the coming posts, I will share with you some recommended apps and games that we have on our computers and tablets that I personally enjoy using with our kiddos. In the meantime, you can learn more at the Make Magic website.
Make magic. Every day.
#makemagiceveryday
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