As a parent, you do not want your child to access the internet without supervision. With a plethora of applications to choose from, it is hard to know what they may be up to.
And while it may be difficult to unplug your child from the internet, it is quite easy to keep tabs on them at all times. With an application like Messenger Kids, your child can have conversations under your watchful eye.
What Parents Need To Know
Messenger Kids boasts the following:
- Great parental controls
Messenger Kids may have the best parental controls that there are. As such, you will always know who your child is talking to and exactly what they are saying. You will also have power over their contacts as well as their actions on the application.
- Easy to use features
Facebook Messenger and Messenger Kids share the same features. If you own a Facebook account, you are already familiar with the chat features that your child will be using.
- Restrictions that come in handy
A majority of online links can be dangerous. In fact, they can come with content that your twelve-year-old should not consume. To rest easy, ensure that you enable the ‘limit adult content’ feature on Messenger Kids. This will prevent your child from opening unknown links
Messenger Kids- Is It What It Claims To Be?
Messenger Kids is a retooled version of your Facebook Messenger account. As you use you’re messaging app to keep in touch with your contacts, kids under 13 years of age do the same with Messenger Kids.
Facebook is famous for its social creations. It introduced a new platform that brings kids together while giving their parents an array of set controls that foster communication.
Messenger Kids has proven to be exactly what it claims to be- an app that makes it possible for kids to talk to the contacts that their parents approve. Even so, it also comes with a few concerns that include:
- Blocked contacts
Like Facebook accounts come with a blocking feature, so does Messenger Kids. But, the only concern is that children can still interact with their blocked contact(s) if they are part of the same group chat. But, as a parent, you can review conversations between your child and their blocked contact(s).
- Ability to chat with contacts who have not been pre-approved by the parents
While parents approve one on one conversations, this become complex in a group chat. This is because whoever creates the group is free to invite anyone to chat with them. In this case, children can chat with unauthorized users.
Is The Hype Worth It?
As many parents talk about Messenger Kids and how it is the perfect training ground for adult social applications, there are those who are not comfortable with the exposure and safety issues that come with it.
Let’s put it this way- Messenger Kids is ideal if you are the kind of parent who wants to give their child ‘training wheels’ before they enjoy any unmonitored social experiences.
Yet, if you oppose early exposure to social media then the app is not for you.
Source: AppsCharger
