Lil' Techies

I’m a little late in the game, but finally had my first experience with the parenting social network Circle of Moms on Facebook and becoming a fan of another child’s page on Child Space. This app/website  has been out for over a year and has almost 8 million members!

From my experience using this app/webiste, I think the attraction is in the sense of security (you create your child’s network, rather than posting to all your Facebook friends) the site offers moms who want to post about their kids. This app only lets other moms join the circle (‘moms’ as in Facebook users who’s profiles declare them female).

The interesting thing is that while this network is for mom’s only, it was created by 2 single guys, Mike Greenfield and Ephraim Luft.

When I first started letting my kids use the Internet with me, I just used my regular browsers with them–Firefox, Explorer or Safari. I quickly realized that even though they were too young to search, I still had to worry about ads and other unfriendly features of the adult browser.

What makes a browser kid-friendly?

Because my kids are on the Internet with me around, I don’t worry about cyberbullies or predators. Instead, I am looking for a browser that will let them feel like they are moving around freely, but will also shelter them from inappropriate images, videos or….especially…..ads. Advertisers seem to know the colors and animations to use to get kids to click on them–I have watched my kids fall victim to countless advertisers.

Browser Shopping

I am looking for a browser that:

• Blocks ads
• Does not block searching
• Has a timer (ie. lets them know when they are on too long!)
• Blocks viruses
• Free!

Some options

Kid  Rocket
http://kidrocket.org/

KidZui
http://www.kidzui.com/

Buddy Browser
http://www.buddybrowser.com

Look for future posts that review these different options!