The Importance of Parental Control Software

The Internet has become an invaluable asset to us in the last decade. It has expanded our world and allowed us to access information to an extent we never imagined. Schools use the Internet and computers for many aspects of our children�s education, from research to learning games. However, all of this technology presents some common safety issues that parents constantly have to confront as well. Some of the most frequent parental fears are:

• Children coming into contact with dangerous people. Chat rooms, social media, and instant messaging are all ways that children interact with others. Unfortunately online predators lurk in these areas as well.
  
• Web pages with inappropriate content. These can be pornography sites, gambling sites, pages that are violent or promote drugs & alcohol, or include tactics for cheating.
  
• Online shopping. Kids might not always realize that it is not okay to use our credit cards to purchase products. Blocking some of these sites can help contain the problem of those unexpected charges on you monthly bill.
  
• Exposure to Cyber-bullying. Chat rooms and social networks can allow your children to talk to their friends, but even classmates can have very harmful things to say. Cyber-bullying has become a dangerous and all too common activity.
  

There are times that we as parents cannot constantly monitor whether or not our children are on the Internet for longer than they should be. If kids are old enough to stay home alone while we finish our workday, it is hard to say whether they really did only spend 30 minutes on the computer, or if they actually spent 2 hours playing or on Facebook instead of working on that English essay.

Verity child monitoring software helps parents take control of these problems. After a quick setup, Verity will begin monitoring whatever you want it to. You can block certain websites by using the domain name or keywords, preventing pages from being opened. This way kids can still do school research without going anywhere they shouldn�t. You can also set up time limits on certain programs or on the computer itself so you know your child is not spending too much time online. You can save screenshots of what your child was doing and looking at to review later, as well as viewing usage and activity reports that show how long your child is on a certain website or using specific programs. You can even have alerts sent to your email so you can check on your child from your smart phone.

Protecting our children in today�s high tech environment can be a daunting task. As fast as technology is moving and progressing, it can be nearly impossible. But with the right tools like good parental control software it becomes much more manageable. As parents, anything we can utilize to keep our kids safe and happy is worth checking out.