20 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 10
little ones loose in such a jungle without protection.
But preparing your child for eventual exposure to
something adult is the wisest course, as even if you
successfully lock down your own home and devices,
there will always be friends at school with tablets or
phones and unfettered internet access.
In the end, you are still the parent and the one
who remains in charge. If you feel your child is
ignoring warnings, or actively seeking out the wrong
sites, then you can remove their internet privileges
or move them back into the centre of the house
where you can monitor their behaviour.
While some software does allow you to keep
tabs on the internet activity of your children, it is
best to tell them in advance that you are doing this.
A child’s trust in you could easily be damaged if
they thought you were secretly spying on them and
eavesdropping on their every conversation.
Again, and we really can’t stress this strongly
enough, talk to your children rather than rely on
a software solution. Unless you do that, then the
settings and applications featured here to help you
protect your young family will be of limited value.Ways to make the internet safe
While there exist many tweaks and features within
browsers and software that can make your internet
access more secure, one almost foolproof step you
can take is to go to the source itself – the router.
That little box with all its fl ashing lights is your
gateway to the web, and it’s possible to use
special apps such as Family Shield by OpenDNS
to directly fi lter all the content that pours forth from
its glowing heart.