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No Kids Emailing My Boss… Qustodio Keeps Them Out of Trouble Online!

Get the Best Internet Security and Device Control for Your Family

By Laura Miller, Publisher of Macaroni Kid Appleton-Waupaca-Oshkosh July 11, 2019


The email that came from my boss on a Sunday morning in April startled me.

     Re: schools

     Sorry, this is a bit ambiguous… what am I missing?

What on earth? I quickly scanned down to the message she was replying to…

     Good Day

WHAT?!?!? I didn’t write that! I’ve been hacked!

Then I noticed the timestamp… the evening before… and that is when I realized that although I thought I had secured my old cell phone by hiding the apps before we left our daughter with Grandma for the evening, she had figured out how to get into something that let her send an email to my boss!

Thankfully, my boss is also a mom and replied, “LOL,” and all was forgotten, but what if my daughter had written something offensive, or worse, encountered a predator while on her online misadventure?

Obviously, I removed my work email from that phone, but I still use it when my “real” phone is charging, so there is still access to social media and internet, but it’s also the phone I download videos onto for the kids to watch on the go and it has a couple games for them too, so I needed a way to keep it usable for me, but also make it safe for the kids. Plus we have an iPad they use for screen time at home that needed to be secured too.

That little email snafu wasn’t the only thing my kids have gotten into online either. They have also:

  • Purchased a game
  • Purchased a movie
  • Found their way from kids YouTube videos to things that were not so appropriate
  • Figured out how to use a different app to access YouTube
  • Woken up too early in the morning and indulged in screen time

They’re not bad kids and they’re not looking for trouble, but kids push buttons and try new things and it’s especially tricky when they can’t read (or tell time) and get into something.

I have tried a few different things to make our devices safer for the kids, but none of those things could do everything, so each time I handed over a device, I had to set it up for them and hope my protective measures would work.

And then I found Qustodio.

With Qustodio, I can set up profiles for each kid, allowing my older child more access than the younger, and assign each child to a device as needed. Plus I have Qustodio installed on our Android phones, our iPad, and our computer and I can control them ALL in one place! That means that when the kids trade turns on the iPad, I can change the assigned user, or turn off the parental controls when I want to use my old phone.

And then, best of all, I can see what the kids are doing from MY phone or computer and take action as soon as it’s needed. Plus I get a usage summary email each day to review, which helps remind me to check in frequently in order to make any adjustments.

With settings for each child, including the amount of screen time they can have (and when), what apps they are allowed to use, time limits per app (my fave), and website blocking, plus monitoring of social media sites, phone calls and texts, and location tracking, Qustodio provides me with all of the information I need to make sure my kids are safe online. It really does everything, and once it’s set up, I can let my kids enjoy their screen time with peace of mind, knowing I don’t need to constantly worry about what my kids are doing online or remind them when screen time is up. I used to dread the day my kids will need their own cell phones, but I don’t need to worry anymore.

I was given a complimentary subscription to Qustodio to facilitate this review, but all opinions are my own.