In the average family home, kids grow up with access to a wide range of devices and digital tools. In the UK, for example, the average home with kids has access to at least 15 different internet-enabled devices, from iPads to laptops, to a parent’s phone, or the Echo Dot on the counter. For kids now, technology is ever-present, and will accompany them at every stage of their lives: in education, as a form of entertainment, in their social lives, and looking into the future, at work.

Considering this, it’s important for families to talk about – and demonstrate – healthy, responsible tech use from a young age. One way to navigate digital rules and establish positive relationships with technology is by creating a family contract, better described as technology guidelines, or a family tech agreement. This can act as a springboard for productive conversations and offer guidelines that everyone feels comfortable following. 

Why is a family technology contract important?

Talking about tech use in a mindful, responsible, and respectful way is part of the process for any parent. However, for any agreement to be effective, lasting, and conflict-free, the approach we take is key. For a family tech contract, or better yet, agreement to be successful, we need to take the focus off setting rules (which, as the saying goes, are made to be broken), and shift it towards creating an open, constructive dialogue, which helps all family members use technology in a healthy way. 

To get you started, Qustodio offers two free downloadable digital agreements, which can set up a workshop session you can regularly revisit as a family. The family agreements – one for younger kids, and one for teens and tweens – are a useful resource for families looking to get started with the process. Download the appropriate agreement for your family below. 

How to get started with your family technology contract

First, you’ll want to create a positive, welcoming environment, where everyone feels comfortable sharing. Choose a stress-free moment, such as a weekend where there are no plans, to set the conversation up. You can help create a relaxed, laid-back setting by combining other elements that remove the “serious family discussion” element, such as a picnic, or as you enjoy an afternoon snack together. 

Once you’ve decided on the perfect opportunity, think of an activity you can do together – one that’s age-appropriate, and tech-related. This serves as an icebreaker and will get them motivated for the conversation. For example, you could play a video game together, or explore a new app that allows you to get creative with them. You could even show them what digital wellbeing tools or parental monitoring look like, how they work, and how they can be used to promote healthier digital habits. This can help set up a productive conversation, where kids can see that these tools aren’t being used to control, but rather to protect. This focus shift from control to collaboration encourages them to participate, and brings a more positive angle to the conversation.

Inclusion: the secret to success

Now you’ve grabbed your kids’ attention, the next part of the process is key: involving them. Establishing rules and boundaries shouldn’t be a one or two-person show, but a process where we listen to our kids’ input and take their needs into account, even if what they think doesn’t match up with your point of view or the risks you know are real.

To avoid the conversation being hyper-focused on setting rules and limits that restrict your kids, encourage them to share positive experiences they’ve had, along with apps and games they like. They should feel comfortable sharing what they enjoy and what they don’t, so that the rules and ideas you discuss can be put in place to help them enjoy the good sides, while reducing negative experiences. Sharing worries and negative situations in a family space can also serve as an environment where you offer guidance, giving kids advice on how to face them and what they should do if they encounter risk online. 

Now you’re all ready to begin, here are some tips to help guide the conversation and keep it productive:

1. Share your own experiences

Sometimes your kids won’t be willing to share, or might not be able to think of a situation – either positive or negative – that they want to talk about. In this case, you can act as the example, sharing your own experiences first, again not only focusing on negative aspects of technology, but sharing the things you love and the ways it helps you. By sharing only the bad, your kids might think you have an outdated view of technology, or that you simply want to restrict how they access the digital world, which might not encourage them to share as openly. 

2. Practice “active listening” 

It’s a good idea to repeat what your kids say throughout the conversation, to reflect their thoughts back, show interest in the different points they might raise, and try to avoid interrupting them or criticizing the way they think. On the other hand, as parents, we shouldn’t be afraid to share our thoughts with our kids, to create an environment where everyone feels they can share and their views are worth listening to. We have to be able to exchange opinions freely, even when they’re different.

3. Take turns suggesting ideas

To create a balanced and fair digital agreement, where everyone feels included, try having each family member suggest their own rule or guideline. Debate the proposed rules and come to a consensus about which ones you’d like to include, and which ones you’d prefer to leave out. This will help you come up with rules that are clear, specific, and above all, achievable. It also lets kids and teens feel a sense of responsibility, and that they have control over their digital life.

4. Make an initial list of ideas

Even though we want our kids to feel included and participate, it’s important for the adults involved to have a general idea of what your family wants to achieve with the agreement, so it aligns with priorities and beliefs. Before the discussion, lay out a few rules that you would like to see in the agreement, taking your kids’ ages and personalities into account. 

What kind of rules can we include in our family’s agreement?

Not all tech use is equal, and the digital challenges that kids face differ across age groups. Here are some rule suggestions that you could use, depending on your child’s age: 

Sample tech rules for under 8s

• A limit of 1 hour of personal screen time per day (e.g. games, videos, and activities outside homework or school work)
• Devices must be used in spaces with an adult present
• Ask for permission before using a device
• Ask for permission before downloading a new app or game
• Don’t share any personal information

Sample tech rules for tweens

• Don’t use devices at the dinner table, or when we have family plans
• Switch devices off before bed
• Make a note of trusted adults you can turn to for support, or who you can go to when you see something that makes you feel uncomfortable

Sample tech rules for teens

• Respect other people’s privacy (avoid sharing pictures of minors and get consent before sharing friends and family)
• Keep social media profiles private
• Dedicate time to offline activities and hobbies
• Promote critical thinking surrounding online content

During the conversation, work to guide your kids, letting them feel they can suggest and implement rules, while also ensuring the rules and boundaries you think are important are included.

Adapting your family tech contract as time goes by

The rules shouldn’t be set in stone, and as your kids get older, their technology needs change – so your digital agreement must reflect this, too. In families where there are kids of different ages, you’ll want to create rules that allow younger kids to understand what’s expected of them when they get older, and help them realize that rules can’t always be “one size fits all”. You can break your rule sets down into different age groups to make it easier to understand: 

• For kids under 8, it’s important to focus on basic rules that promote digital health and wellbeing, such as limiting screen time, talking about the possibility of inappropriate content, and setting up restrictions to help them avoid it, while also promoting offline activities and shared family experiences.
• For tweens, even though they may not be using social media, they’ll certainly be aware of it – which should be reflected in the agreement: tweens should know what online privacy is, what happens to videos and photos once they’re uploaded to social media or the internet, how to be respectful and communicate online, how to recognize inappropriate behavior and red flags (especially from strangers), how to identify bullying behavior, and how to be kind to others in the digital world. 
• For teens, it’s important to keep working on the same guidelines set out for tweens, promoting healthy online behavior, digital ethics, respect towards other people, moderating screen time and promoting balanced use, and teaching them how to reflect on and question content they encounter online. 

With this in mind, you can use the two digital agreement templates Qustodio offers, one designed for under-8s, and the other for tweens and teens, to help families steer the conversation towards age-appropriate rules and guidelines. 

You’ll also want to consider when to review your rules – for example, every 3 months, just before school vacation, before starting the new year, or when you’ve had a digital setback and need to take a new approach. Another key moment to review your digital agreement is when giving your child a new device: a video console, an iPad, and especially a smartphone. The existing digital agreement can work as a great base to add new rules and have deeper conversations about the digital world. 

Finding digital balance together

As a family, talk about the risks and benefits technology can pose. Ask your kids to share what they know, what their beliefs are, and talk about their experiences, so you can do the same. Listen to them, and share your knowledge of the digital world and online safety. While you’re bringing years of experience to the table, they might also share things that you weren’t aware of, making the conversation something everyone can learn from. Using these shared experiences and collective knowledge, you can set rules that everyone understands and respects. 

Healthy boundaries allow everyone to find balance with technology, protecting the youngest members of the family, and making them aware of both the risks and benefits. 

The benefits you can highlight include: 

• Access to information
• Creativity and skill development
• Connection with friends and family from far and wide
• Access to new opportunities and knowledge

On the flip side, we can’t tiptoe around the risks that the online world poses, and kids should be made aware of them (in age-appropriate ways) as they grow with devices. These points can help you discuss what they need to know of the risks: 

Helping our children navigate the digital world is now an essential part of parenting: devices and technology play a huge role in our children’s lives – and our own – meaning it’s more important than ever for families to approach tech use with care and intention. A digital agreement is a great way to start these conversations, helping families set clear expectations, while also keeping the dialogue open and positive. This way, we can work towards a shared understanding of healthy technology use and what it actually means – promoting collaboration over control. 

What makes these agreements truly valuable is their flexibility. As kids grow, and technology continues to evolve, regularly revisiting your family agreement keeps it relevant and meaningful. More than just setting limits, these conversations help strengthen family bonds, encourage open communication, and give kids the tools they need to become thoughtful, responsible digital citizens. Together, families can build a safe, supportive space both on and offline, for everyone to enjoy the digital world with confidence.

What is a family digital agreement?

The problem that often comes with a signed contract like this is that these rules and regulations are easily broken. Many families, and children, find it difficult to stick to everything listed on the document – and as they grow older, the rules need adapting, too. 

This family digital agreement is designed to help you all have useful, positive conversations about technology. You’ll come together to plan out actionable ideas, and for your family’s smallest members, perhaps start thinking for the first time what it means to have an online life. 

What can a digital agreement do for my kids? 

✔ Allow you to reflect on how much your family uses technology as a whole, and implement positive change 

✔ Help you establish healthy boundaries surrounding screen time and digital behavior

✔ Give you the tools for an ongoing, respectful conversation about your use of technology

✔ Tailor the discussion to your family, with separate sections for tweens and teens on relevant issues like social media, screen time, or not having offline hobbies

How to make a family digital agreement

Download the ideal worksheet for your family using the buttons below. 

Digital agreement for teens and tweens

What to do before getting started

1. Have a parent or guardian read through the worksheet before you come to it as a family. This will help prepare the discussion. 

2. Talk to kids beforehand about when you’ll be creating this agreement. Springing it on them out of the blue may make them more defensive.

3. Find a space where you all feel comfortable and relaxed, ahead of the discussion. Reduce distractions and create a positive, welcoming environment. 

4. If anything starts to get a little heated, take a break and come back when you are ready.

5. Try to stray away from rewards and punishments that involve technology – for example, giving extra screen time for good behavior. The goal is to create healthy digital habits over bargaining tools. 

Revisiting your family agreement

This is why we don’t recommend creating and signing a cell phone contract that allows for little flexibility, or naming specific rewards and punishments for rules that could be broken. Kids will often be set up for failure this way. 

Instead, use your family digital agreement as a springboard for regular communication, and revisit the written-down rules and ideas you’ve decided on together as your child grows. If your family needs to use both the under-8s version and the teens and tweens, you could have separate discussions, or print out both versions and mix and match – whichever works best for your family dynamic.

Once you’re all on the same page, you can start working towards digital wellbeing with a shared perspective, and face fewer struggles in the long term. Good luck!

Children and teens thrive on routine. Having a clear structure for their day – from getting ready for school to prepping for bedtime – not only makes things run smoothly and avoids arguments, but helps their development too. That’s without even mentioning how beneficial routines are to your family relationships and stress levels. But how do you create a family routine that works for everyone – and why exactly are they so important? Let’s take a look.

Why is it important to have a family routine?

Though your day may naturally tend towards some kind of routine, creating a defined plan may seem like overkill at first. However, there’s a whole lot of research showing that well-defined, daily routines have a huge range of benefits for children. These include:

Improved language and social development

Planning your day enables you to protect time to spend with your kids, away from their devices – even if just to sit down and eat dinner together. This time provides the perfect opportunity for younger children to develop their language skills, whether it’s through telling stories about their day or from observing and learning about polite behavior.

Higher academic success

Simply having a routine in the first place, no matter what it is, goes some way to helping your kids succeed at school. But how? It turns out that having an organized home life eases the transition into the structure of the school day. It also helps kids to feel more in control of their time and therefore improves their independence as they move through the school years.

Increased sense of safety

Imagine you’re constantly going about your day being told to do things with no understanding of why, or what’s coming up next. Stressful, right? That’s how it can feel for kids! Knowing what to expect from the upcoming day helps children of all ages feel calm, secure, and looked after.

Better family bonds

A good routine provides regular opportunities for your family to spend time together. Whether that’s at meal times or family game nights, these moments provide space to build strong relationships and feel like a team.

Healthier online-offline balance

Children spend an average of 4 hours on devices each day – not including time spent while at school. It’s easy for kids and parents alike to pick up a device to fill a quiet moment and then fall into a TikTok-shaped rabbit hole. Having a strong routine can help your child prevent mindless scrolling, and ensure any screen time they do have is positive and productive.

Reduced parent stress

As a parent, you always have a lot to juggle. Home, work, school, your social life, your kids’ social life – it adds up quickly. Having to constantly make decisions throughout the day only makes things more stressful. A lack of structure also opens up opportunities for your kids to constantly make requests, whether it’s for one more TV programme or some time on their tablet. Having clear rules about when things can happen not only makes you feel more organized, but avoids these potential grounds for conflict. 

How to create a family routine

If you haven’t sat down to create a defined routine before, it may feel overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to! You can get started with just a few easy steps – and don’t forget that you can always adapt your plan as you go along to ensure it really works for you.

1. Start with the bigger picture

To get started, make a list of the main parts of your family’s day. This could include activities like getting ready for school, doing homework, having dinner, and prepping for bedtime.

2. Fill in the detail

Then, get more specific. What does your family need (or want) to accomplish in each part of the day? A bedtime routine for example might include brushing teeth, a bath or shower, and time for reading. Make a list and then write down an estimate of how much time each step could take. This is also a good moment to think about whether each activity should involve devices, or if they can be screen-free. Our printable digital agreements will help you here.

3. Schedule the day

Put all of your daily activities and timeframes together. You can now estimate when each one needs to take place to give you enough time to do all of them.

4. Get your family’s input

Finally, make sure that your family is happy with your plan. Check that you haven’t missed anything, and that timings make sense. When you’ve agreed, help everyone to ensure they know their routine – younger children will need more help in this regard. Remember, this is an outline for your daily routine – if plans change at the last minute, that’s ok!

How parental controls can help

For each part of your daily routine, your kids will need different levels of access to devices. Maybe you want dinner time to be completely screen-free, while homework time lets them access educational websites. Parental controls, and Qustodio’s routines feature in particular, make this easy. You can schedule different device rules throughout the day to suit your family’s routine. And, with 4 readymade rule sets available, they’re easy to set up! You can:

Schedule study time

The study preset is set up to enable your child to access educational resources – while blocking distracting apps and websites like online games. While we recommend setting this during school time, you could extend it to cover homework time too! 

Give more flexibility for entertainment

Use the entertainment preset when you want to give your kids some more freedom to play on their devices – perhaps as part of your after school routine. It keeps unsafe content blocked, but allows access to games and entertainment apps.

Help them stay focused

The focus preset blocks their devices’ internet connections so they can focus on offline activities. Try this preset to help your kids really enjoy their offline hobbies.

Reduce screen time before bed

A healthy sleep routine aids in many areas of kids’ lives – from mood and school attainment to physical health. Using devices at night has been proven time and again to disrupt sleep. The bedtime preset blocks devices completely, helping your kids to put away their devices and sleep properly.

Activating any of these presets is easy when you have Qustodio: just log in, go to routines, choose add a routine and pick the preset you want. The handy calendar view makes it simple to keep track of what’s happening and when.

All in all, thinking about what you want to achieve in your day-to-day tasks, writing down your routines, and combining this with Qustodio’s tools, you and your children will feel calmer, more connected, and able to enjoy a better base from which to learn and grow.

Whether you need to look up some data or are in the mood for a shopping spree, Google is probably your first port of call. With over 6 million searches carried out on the platform every single minute, you’re not alone – and kids are just as likely to turn to the internet giant, or another search engine, to find what they’re looking for. 

Having so much information readily available can definitely make life easier, but also creates concerns about what your children might stumble upon. Teaching your kids safe internet habits and supporting them with the help of Qustodio’s parental control tools will go a long way to keeping them safe. Read on for our tips.

Switch on Safe Search

Many search engines have built-in tools to improve safety. Google and Bing’s SafeSearch feature removes explicit content, such as adult images and graphic violence, from search results. Meanwhile, YouTube’s Restricted Mode prevents your child from seeing inappropriate videos when they search on the platform, as well as hiding video comments and live streams.

These two features are an easy way to get some peace of mind, and both can be managed with Qustodio. Just log in to your Qustodio account and go to your child’s Web filtering settings. Switch on Enforce Safe Search. This will switch on restrictions for Google, Bing, and YouTube – and also prevent your child from being able to turn them off in their browser settings. 

Be aware of what your child is searching for

Keeping an eye on what your child is searching for has numerous benefits: You’ll be the first to know if your child searches for anything concerning, and you’ll get a good insight of what’s on their mind. 

However, it’s not realistic to sit right next to your child as they browse the web. That’s where Qustodio’s activity timeline comes in handy: it shows their full search history so you can stay in the know even when you’re not in the same room. Qustodio’s dashboard also gives an overview of searches, showing which words they’re most frequently looking for so you can look out for any trends. Prepped with this information, you can strike up a conversation with your child when it’s most relevant, whether it’s regarding something you’re concerned about or simply to jump in and help them with a homework query.

To monitor your child’s searches with Qustodio, you just need to head to their profile and scroll to the Web searches card for an overview, or go to their Timeline to see every search in chronological order.

Receive AI-powered search alerts

For some parents, checking every single search might not be ideal – you’d prefer to just know if there’s something you should be concerned about. Qustodio allows you to do this with its AI-driven search alerts. When switched on, you’ll receive a push notification and an email if your child searches for something potentially worrying, such as content related to:

• Bullying
• Violence
• Drugs
• Pornography
• Illegal activity

You’ll then be able to read the full details in your child’s activity timeline and help them tackle any problems they’re facing immediately. If you’re looking for help in approaching any problems you find, Qustodio’s Learning Center is full of tips to tackle difficult topics like cyberbullying and negative body image.

To activate search alerts, simply head to Web filtering in your child’s rules page, go to Settings, Alerts, and switch on the toggle for Searches.

Help your child use online search mindfully

It’s tempting to turn to Google or YouTube as soon as the thought strikes. However, a search for homework help can quite easily turn into a 10-minute deep dive into a topic only tangentially related. Remind your kids that there are other ways to find information – whether that’s taking some more time to think about the subject, talking to you, or checking their books. That way, there’s less chance of stumbling across unsafe content and of distraction.

Teach them to question what they read

Search engines aim to put the most relevant results as high as possible. However, that doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to trust everything you see. Teach your kids to check that the websites they’re being presented with are reliable, to question what they read, and to cross reference multiple sources.

Encourage them to talk to you

Children are naturally curious. Ensure they know that if they have questions about anything, from puberty and relationships to mental health, they can come to you. As well as building your relationship, learning about these topics from you will allow you to ensure they receive information appropriate for their age. 

If your child does search online for something you would have preferred for them to ask you about, don’t panic. Creating a space for open dialogue will also help them to feel comfortable in coming to you if they find something they’re concerned about. 

With so much uncontrolled content available online, it’s normal to feel some worry about what your child might discover. Using a combination of search engine parental controls, Qustodio, and consistent communication with your child, will help to ensure they have a positive experience when browsing online.

The holiday season is the perfect time to create new family traditions and memories. While it may be tempting for your kids to spend more time in front of screens while they’re not at school, getting a good balance of online and offline activities will help you to enjoy the quality family time that you’re looking for. 

To give you some inspiration for screen-free activities that will keep your kids entertained, we’ve asked a few of our team members at Qustodio how they celebrate the holidays with their families – and put together some tips on how Qustodio’s parental control tools can help you too.

Screen-free activities for the whole family

“During the holiday season, we always find ways to help the younger generation connect with the older generation, both in and outside the family. We often volunteer for charity projects or local initiatives so we can give back to the community together. At home, we organize events that involve everyone – we pass down family recipes from the older generation to the younger generation by cooking together, and we host a family talent contest. The more the merrier!”

Dan, Customer Support

“My family really loves competitions and puzzles, so we use our time off in the holidays to make the ultimate scavenger hunt! We either hide holiday-themed objects, or we hide one clue after another, taking us to the final prize. It can be a lot of work, but if we’re short of time we make use of technology, and use online scavenger hunt suggestions and apps to make our life a bit easier. 

 

We like to use the internet to help us learn over the holidays, so we also search for things like science experiments we can perform together, with basic tools and ingredients that we have around the house. This way, we always have something to do, and we bring the online world offline!”

Nils, Education

“I love decorating, and so does my family. We use the holidays as an opportunity to get out together and enjoy nature. We then bring home things we find that we can decorate, such as pine cones, tree bark, and branches. We get really creative with whatever we find – we paint pine cones, make colorful wreaths, or build beautiful centerpieces inspired by the outdoors. We love making things together instead of buying all our decorations. It gives the house a rustic feel!”

Ornella, Customer Success

“My family absolutely loves the festive season. Every year we pick a different theme that helps keep us inspired – so one year we’ll do a sports theme, one year we’ll do a cookery theme, and we decorate the house and base our gifting around that theme. As a family, we also organize and lead tours around our local area, with the best tour receiving a prize. This way we get out and enjoy the lights and the celebrations, but through the eyes of one of our family members…and it helps keep things fresh, as it’s different every year!”

Irene, HR

“At my place, we’re big fans of charades. It’s a classic tradition that dates back to the 16th century and it’s the perfect excuse to ditch screens and spend some time together! Charades is a game of pantomimes: you have to ‘act out’ a phrase without speaking, while the other members of your team try to guess what the phrase is. The objective is for your team to guess the phrase as quickly as possible and you can always give prizes to the team that wins. 

If you’re no novice to charades, there are lots of ways you can switch it up. Have the whole family act out the clue for one person to guess, or ‘pass down’ the charade from one family member to another, like you would in telephone!​​”

Marvin, Customer Success

“One thing which I did when I was little, and which I always do now with my kids, is make a collage wishlist. Instead of writing out a present list, or using the internet to search for what we want, we cut out images from magazines and toy store catalogs and glue them into a collage of the kind of gifts we’d like to receive. It’s fun for little kids, and older teens and family members enjoy helping them out – but everyone makes their own, too!”

Tamara, Marketing

How Qustodio can help during the holiday season

Want a little extra help getting the best online-offline balance so you can try out the activities above? Qustodio’s parental control tools are here to do just that. Check out our top tips below and make the most of Qustodio to get more family time.

1. Schedule device-free moments

Use routines to schedule time away from screens so your kids can fully disconnect from their devices. Whether you want to encourage conversation at the dinner table or simply enjoy some festive, offline activities, routines will help everyone to focus on family time. 

2. Manage game and app use

If your kids are receiving new devices and videogames over the holidays, then set time limits for particular games and apps to help them maintain a healthy balance. They’ll be able to enjoy exploring their new tech without it taking up all of their holiday time.

3. Monitor phone calls and messages

Your kids will probably be excited to keep in touch with their friends from school over the holidays, and may be spending more time calling and texting them. Activate calls & SMS monitoring to keep an eye on who they’re talking to and make sure they’re getting a good balance between online messaging and face-to-face conversation.

4. Set up alerts

If you want to let your kids explore online this holiday season while staying safe, Qustodio alerts are here to help. You’ll be notified straight away if they search for something concerning, including anything related to bullying, violence, or mature content. You can also activate Safe Search for an extra layer of protection. 

By combining Qustodio’s parental control tools with some of our festive screen-free activity ideas, you’ll be sure to get in some quality time as a family this season!

For all the excitement that comes with a new school year – reunions with friends, a brand new timetable – it can be tricky to get back into the school routine after the summer vacation. Starting the year on the right foot however is a great way to set your kids up for academic success (and to reduce your own stress too). Qustodio is here to help: read on for our tips on how to make the transition to the classroom as seamless as possible. 

Switch focus from video games to school

There are benefits to playing the occasional video game, including bonding with friends and improving spatial awareness skills. However, playing for too long can make it difficult for kids to focus in the classroom – the sustained attention needed there is very different to the task-switching the average video game needs. Multiple studies have shown that playing for more than an hour a day can lead to issues maintaining attention at school.

Qustodio’s games and apps feature is here to help. You can see a list of apps that your child has used and either set daily time limits for each one or block them completely to make sure your kids can get focused for school. You can also choose to receive an email when your child uses an app for the first time, so it’s easier to set rules for new games and apps straight away.

Want to know more about setting up rules for games & apps? Follow these simple instructions in time for the new semester.

Take advantage of all learning opportunities

Spending a lot of time in front of screens at an early age can cause problems and delays in developing language and literacy skills. When it comes to older children, there are links between high screen time and lower academic performance. This can be put down both to high screen time causing attention issues, and also to the likelihood that they’re missing out on learning opportunities away from their screens.

With Qustodio, you can set your kids up for success by limiting their screen time and ensuring that when they do have screen time, it’s safe and educational. Set an allowance for each day of the week with the daily time limits feature and choose what happens when they reach their limit (either prevent internet access or lock the device). Don’t worry, you can always add extra time if they need it. 

Then, choose the kind of content that your kids can access when they are online with the web filtering feature. Allow them to visit websites that Qustodio has categorized as educational, and block any that contain harmful content or that could distract your kids from their schoolwork.

Learn more about daily time limits and web filtering in our guides.

Get a good night’s sleep

Now that term’s starting up again, it’s extra-important that your kids get a good night’s sleep. Lack of quality sleep, whether it be from scrolling on TikTok late into the night or from melatonin-disrupting blue light, can lead to poor moods and memory problems. A good night’s sleep will leave your kids energized and ready to take on the school day fully. 

It’s easy to improve both the quality and the quantity of your kids’ sleep with Qustodio’s routines feature. This enables you to schedule custom rules and screen-free times for specific moments of the day. It comes with a readymade bedtime ruleset which, when activated, blocks devices from 9pm until 7am every school night. All you have to do is add it to your list of routines, check that the times and days work for you, and then save! 

Want some more info on setting up routines? Have a look at our guide.

Ensure your kids are safe when they’re out of the house

Going back to school means your kids are likely to be out of the house more than they have been for a while. They might be making their own way to school and, once there, you can’t be sure what they’re up to on their phones – so it’s understandable if you’re worried about keeping them safe both on and offline. 

Use the family locator to check where they are and that they’ve arrived safely. We recommend saving school and home to your places so that you’ll get notifications when they leave and arrive at each one – no more reminding them to let you know themselves. You can also download Qustodio on all your kids’ devices and make sure they’re accessing positive content when they’re out of the house. Set content rules and block apps on their smartphones as well as their laptops and other devices for true peace of mind. 

Head to our how-to guides to learn more about the family locator or visit our downloads page to install Qustodio on all your devices.

All in all, the back to school period is a busy one and we’re here to ease your concerns. From protecting your kids’ online activity when they’re out of the house, to creating more learning opportunities, Qustodio can help you and your kids to have a great academic year.