Safe Search Kids - Education, Parenting, Internet Safety for All

You don’t have to be a computer savvy parent to begin making sure your child is searching the internet with proper filtering. We provide filtering of Google that blocks all bad content in your kids search results.  This works well for schools and it’s a good start for parents at home.  Still, the Qustodio parental control app is recommended to keep kids safe online.

Apart from Google search, even if using a strict internet filtering, kids searching the web without a parental control app installed will be able to go directly to any website that one of their friends may have told them about. There are also social media concerns, such as cyberbullying, online predators or inappropriate images. 

Parental Control App

Try Qustodio: Free Downloads for All Devices

School administrators can explore parental controls for schools to bring the same filtering and monitoring features that parents enjoy at home.  The ability to protect entire classrooms from dangers online is a game changer.

Qustodio Parental Controls for Schools

For use on all devices (Windows, Mac, laptops, Androids, iPhones, Tablets, Chromebook, Kindle):  Complete Online Safety for Students.

Safe Search Kids endorses these parental control app solutions according to the needs of your individual family. Multiple features provides the tools needed to keep kids of all ages safe online.  For starters, they have a robust internet filter to ensure harmful websites are blocked.  Parental controls also have an app blocker to give parents (and now schools) full control over what apps they allow their kids to use.

And what about harmful texts, such as the sending of personal photos that are best kept private? What about the innocuous threats, including too much screen time and time spent online late at night while kid should be sleeping? There are a wide variety of threats online and a search engine cannot control all of these issues. It takes parental controls for complete safety online.

The Qustodio Parental Control App for Families

Parental control features include:

• SOS / Panic Button – get instant alerts when family members are in danger.
• Control screen time – custom set limits according to each child’s age.
• Family Pause – lock your child’s phone instantly from your parental dashboard.
• Set internet usage schedule – set daily and weekly time slots.
• Teen Safe Drive – be notified when drivers in your family speed.
• Control Contacts – access your child’s contact list and get alerts when they are contacted by someone who you have restricted.
• View Call History and remotely monitor texts sent and received.
• Track Web Browsing History – in addition to web filtering to prevent harmful websites you can see what sites your kids are searching for what sites they frequent.
• Control Installed Apps and Block Apps your won’t allow for each family member. Review how much time is spent on each app.
• Monitor which websites your kids are bookmarking.
• Pick Me Up Alerts – be notified when it’s time to pick kids up from school, the mall or a friends house.

All of these parental control features work in the background to keep kids safe their devices wherever they go.  Location history is always tracked.  At any time you can see where your kids have been and where they are presently.  Set up Geo Fences to be notified when they leave certain areas.

View all the places they visited over a period of time. Check all details like time and complete address to ensure their safety.  Instantly check where any family member is on a map.

• Explore All Parental Control Features for All Devices
• Create a Free Qustodio Parental Control Account
• Free Downloads for All Devices
• Download for Andriod

Parental Control App for iPhones, iPads, Android and Amazon devices

Parental control apps make it easier for parents to take control of their kid’s activities online, maintain their kid’s safety, manage their kid’s times on all devices, as well as manage their own time more effectively so that they can continue to do what they do best: Parent.

Effective Parental Controls include Web filtering including keyword and phrase filtering. The latest in app blocking or the setting of specific restrictions on apps like Snapchat. Monitor and manage users real-time activity. Easily access centralized management of multiple children on multiple devices, including iPhones, Android phones, tablets and Amazon (Kindle Fire).

Parental Controls becomes the “bad guy” monitoring your kids’ activity. While it blocks bad content and controls usage, it also puts the onus on your child to be responsible for what they do online. Individual levels of freedom can set up according to age and times of day. Read about how parental control apps can even encourage good driving habits with driving history reports.

Parents and guardians will also enjoy a slew of product enhancements, including:

• Chat filtering for texts and messaging apps.
• Security options to block system changes on computer.
• Alert notifications by email or text, such as when new apps are installed.
• Invisible / stealth operation. (Works in the background so it doesn’t interfere with device performance)
• Real-time tracking of users whereabouts and whether they are online or not.

When it comes to maintaining the safety and innocence of children, the Internet isn’t just a search engine anymore. So many other elements are needed in an effort to keep kids safe online. Not to mention, the more time parents spend managing screen time restrictions, social media friends, texting and photos – the less time parents have to focus on building a stronger relationship with their child.

It’s not enough to simply turn on safe search.  A trusted parental control App is necessary to fully protect kids online, including filtered web search and monitoring of social media and app downloads. It not only ensures that kids stay safe, parental control software can help build character in kids to make the right decisions on the internet.

As a parent, you no longer have to play the “guessing game” as to what their kid searches for online, who their friends are, and whether they are actually studying for that history project or just killing time on TikTok or playing games.

Beware of Fake Calculator Apps

There are apps on the app stores that hide other apps by masking themselves to look like a calculator. These are known as fake calculator apps or calculator vault apps.  You can manually check for these apps on your child’s phone through various methods.  Checking the app memory size will help determine if there is a larger hidden app behind it, such as a social media app or worse – a dating or chat app.  Calculators shouldn’t be any larger than 30 MB in size. 

Does your child have more than one calculator on their phone?  This could also be a tell.  Search the name of the calculator on Google or in the app store on their device to see it’s a legitimate app created purely for multiplication and addition. Parental controls takes the guess work out of troubling trends such as this.  They ensure you are remain fully aware of what apps your child is downloading in real time.  It’s one of the standard monitoring features.  It also prevents kids from downloading apps and hiding them through other means that smart phones allow users to do.

Monitor Kids Texts

The latest development in the wide variety of parental control apps available is the the ability to monitor kids texts.  At first mention this seems to be a severe invasion of kids privacy.  To clarify, what is being monitored is the detection of suspicious texts your child may be receiving.  You won’t have to peer into every conversation your kids are involved in.  Just like the monitoring of websites and social media activity, you will be notified of potentially harmful texts when they happen.  Or, if you notice your child is acting unusually upset after checking social media or receiving text, you can go into you parental control app dashboard a look at it.

Can you monitor SMS or Texts messages using Qustodio?  It depends on whether you have an Android or iOS device.

It’s good practice for parents to give their kids the freedom they need online within safe boundaries a parental control app sets up.  Let them know you are not watching their every move but with parental controls in place you will be notified when a line as been crossed.  This helps your younger child or teen learn responsibility while interacting with others online.

New Parental Control Feature for Qustodio App and Software

The Qustodio Care Plus provides an add on service that includes exclusive experience to all parents choosing a premium plan in USA.  This makes the most out of the app through a personalized assistance including the following services:

• Welcome Tour
• Priority Support through all available channels
• Technical support
• Device Set Up Assistance
• Ongoing Check-ins
• Remote Assistance for technical troubleshooting
• Early Access to New Features

How it works

Being an exclusive service, customers must confirm wanting to receive the personalized assistance from one of our specialists as it follows:

• Once customers decide which is the right membership plan, they will need to activate the service by checking the Care Plus box before proceeding with the payment.
• A specialized team will reach out to book the first call at the day and time that’s convenient for the customer.
• The service will be available in English or Spanish.
• All Qustodio’s Medium and Large plans include this service for free. However, need to be activate during the purchase.
• For the Small plan memberships, and only if the member decides to add the service, a one-time payment of $9.99 will be charged into the customer account.

Do you Know? (Internet Use by Kids)

Do you know what your kids are looking at online? 41% of U.S. teens say that their parents have no idea…

Do you know how often your kids frequent social networking sites? According to the Norton Online Living report, 76% of U.S. teens ages 13-17 are “constantly” or “frequently” visiting social networking sites.

Do you know if your child has been contacted online by a stranger? 16% of U.S. children have been approached online by a stranger. Is your child one of them?

What is YOUR Internet Monitoring Strategy?

You can rely on the search engines or safe search apps for filtering services, but they are not designed to include social media, app usage or screen time monitoring. It’s more than parental controls in the present, it’s about equipping kids to responsibly navigate the world wide web safely long after they grow up and leave home.

The Power of Parental Control Apps

• Discover how much easier it can be to have the Qustodio parental control app controlling internet access for every user in your home according to their age.
• Enjoy reduced stress no longer having to hunch over your child’s shoulder monitoring their online activity or asking for their phone to search for bad apps.
• Parental focus and peace of mind can be restored knowing that full control is within your fingertips via an app or on any computer.

We are happy to offer a video filtering tool at the top of our website, but what if your child or teen is searching YouTube from a regular browser or smart phone? Fortunately, free parental controls for YouTube are available using your Google account.

Even though YouTube has restrictions on what users can post, it still contains questionable material that is not appropriate for every age group.  However, there are a number of ways to make it a little safer with parental controls.  And when using YouTube Kids in a browser or via parental controls on the YouTube app, it’s much more safe.

Activating Parental Controls on YouTube

In the past, you could only turn on safe search for Google’s regular search results to ensure safe browsing. After many requests from parents and educators, YouTube now has parental controls so that you can implement YouTube filtering in your browser when searching from YouTube.com. Further action was taken to create an entirely safe YouTube for kids.  We will explore all of these options.  For instant automatic filtering of videos from a variety of screened websites, explore our safe video search.

In this article you will learn:

1. How to turn on Restricted Mode and how to lock it. This does not mean it will provide 100% safety when searching videos on YouTube, but it will help parents ensure the worst content is blocked.
2. How to set up stricter parental measures for younger kids on computers and laptops.
3. How to protect children using a special app on mobile devices, such as tablets and phones.

To fully monitor or block how family members access the entire internet, explore parental control software and apps for all devices.

How to Set Up Restricted Mode for YouTube

To implement the YouTube Restricted Mode, go to YouTube.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page….

You will see a reference to Restricted Mode: Off...

Click the drop down arrow and details about ‘restricted mode’ will appear…

Clicking On followed by the Save button will activate ‘Restricted Mode’ but will not lock it.

Locking YouTube Safe Search

As you will see, it’s very easy to turn safe search on and off. Therefore, you may want to lock it in order to ensure it is always activated for all family members.

To activate parental controls for YouTube, you will need a Google account. To open a free Google account, go to google.com and click “Sign In” in the top right hand corner of their main website. You will then see the option to create a new account.

Now return to YouTube (while signed into your account) and scroll down to the bottom of the page to the Restricted Mode link.

After selecting the “On” button, you will see an option to Save. Then log out of your account.

Restricted Mode is now activated you can now log out of your account. Unlocking restricted mode on YouTube will require you to log into your account. This guarantees that no one else can deactivate the safety setting.

Important: If you have more than one browser on your computer, you will need to follow these steps for each browser. Below is a video that walks you through the process of implementing YouTube Parental Controls that were just explained.

Remember, restricting YouTube will stop the worst content but not all videos that you personally may see as unfit for younger viewers. Even with parental controls for YouTube activated, many parents and educators find YouTube inappropriate for their kids. Utilizing an AI Content Checker can help assess the suitability of video content for children.

Along with these measures, exploring teenage counselling online could provide teens with extra support, helping them handle any emotional challenges that arise from exposure to online content. Our safe video tab on the top of our website offers strict filtering of videos from a variety of safe sources.

Parental Controls Using YouTube Kids

Alternatively, you can restrict your younger family members from using YouTube entirely.  Go to YouTube Kids to set up a parent account.  Follow the instructions and when complete, you can direct your kids to use the same website.  Parents can choose the appropriate level of content for each child.  Your selection impacts the types of videos available within YouTube Kids.

Content Experiences Include:

• Preschool (ages 4 and under)
• Younger (ages 5-8)
• Older (age

KidzTube Videos:  Please note that the search feature tab for video at the top of our website delivers safe filtering videos from educational and filtering websites only.  However, it does not restrict children from going to other browsers to search Google.   We have an app for that as well.  Continue reading…

Parental Controls on YouTube App

When kids are using YouTube on their mobile phones, the steps to protecting your kids is similar.

1. Visit your devices app store and search for YouTube Kids
2. Download the YouTube Kids App.
3. Follow the instructions to set up your parental account with a pin number.
4. If the regular YouTube app is already installed, delete it from your child’s phone.
5. Show your child the new YouTube Kids apps on their phone and let them loose to explore safely.

To ensure safe searching for every age of kids in your family, you can also delete any installed browsers.  Then, download our safe search app for safe searching of Google and other filtered resources.  It called the KidzSearch app and provides the same filtering as seen on the top of this website.

Safe YouTube Summary

Parents put a lot of trust in safety tools and resources provided from various sources to protect their kids online.  As children age, internet filtering and monitoring by parents can be eased, but will never be totally removed until they are fully grown and move out on their own to begin life as a adult.  In the meantime, it’s also important to teach kids the value of responsible internet use. This includes searching YouTube for videos that can provide positive entertainment and educational benefits.

Watch this Video for Step By Step Instructions to Lock Safe Search with YouTube parental controls.

Learn more about online safety for kids, including privacy concerns and how to make YouTube Safe with parental controls.

Read this parents guide about understanding AI generated YouTube content.

Online classes have many advantages beyond just decreasing the impact school closures: they can be more engaging, provide more opportunities for personalized learning, and save on commuting time.  No wonder, then, that the future of online education remains positive—even as kids return to school.

While many teachers have embraced online learning, others have found the transition to be challenging. But with just a little bit of effort, you can make the switch successfully.

Here are five tips to help you boost your productivity and ensure the consistent growth of your students while learning online.

Set Out Your Plans Early

The first step to being productive as an online educator is simple: you need to set out your plans early. By outlining what you want to achieve in each class, you’ll have a better sense of what actions you must take and when you need to take them. This will help you stay on track while teaching and avoid getting sidetracked.

Don’t try to accomplish too much in a single class—you’ll only end up frustrated and overwhelmed. Instead, break down your goals into smaller, more manageable tasks that you can complete.

Get Organized

This won’t be news to older teachers, but it bears repeating. Most teachers are indeed quite organized, but even the most fastidious teachers can get overwhelmed once classes start piling up.

There are no hard rules when it comes to getting organized. We generally suggest just doing what works best for you and your students. Some ideas to consider:

• Creating a master list of all the topics you want to cover in your course

• Divvying up your master list into smaller units or modules

• Making a schedule for each unit, including deadlines for when each topic should be covered

• Assigning readings, videos, and other materials for each class session

• Filling out answer keys for faster grading

Preparing everything you need ahead of time means one less thing to worry about during class. It also gives you a sense of control and mastery over the material, which can boost your confidence in front of your students.

Split Your Tasks

Teachers are constantly pulled one way and then another. There are a million things that need to be done and not enough hours in the day to do them all. The key to productivity, especially online, is splitting your tasks up so that you can focus on one thing at a time.

You can break them down in any number of ways. Our two favorites:

• High- and low-involvement- Some teachers like to split their tasks between those that are high-involvement, such as lesson planning, and those that are low-involvement, like photocopying. This allows you to tackle the difficult work when you feel most energetic and save the simpler tasks for when you need a break.

• Urgent and not so urgent– Another way to split your tasks is by urgency. This can help you prioritize what needs to be done first and prevent you from getting bogged down in the less important work.

Whichever way you choose, the important thing is that you find a way to focus on one task at a time so that you can give it your full attention.

Harness Technology

To be as productive as possible, make sure you make the most of the technology tools available to you. Doing this not only makes your life easier, but it also makes your students’ learning experience better.

Again, feel free to go with whatever tools work best for you and your students, but here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Screen capture – Use this tool to take pictures of what’s on your screen. This is great for when you want to save a website, document, or image for later reference. You can also use it to show a student’s screen to the rest of the class.

• Smart class management system – These systems help you manage your classroom by keeping  track of assignments, grades, and student progress. They can also be used to create and deliver assignments, such as GitHub for Education.

• Assisting tools – There are many tools available that can help you with things like taking attendance, monitoring student activity, and providing feedback.

• Smartphone Use – While students will most often be learning online using a laptop or computer, explore tools for those who also have mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.  This can encourage learning when away from the class.

It’s unlikely that your students will need much help using these tools, but it’s always a good idea to go over them at the beginning of the semester just in case. By familiarizing yourself with the technology available to you and taking advantage of the features that can make your life easier, you can help ensure a productive and successful semester.

Take an Individual Approach

Many parents and students are concerned that, with remote learning fast becoming the norm, teachers won’t have enough time to give each student the individual attention they need to succeed. But there are always ways that teachers can continue to have individual two-way communication with their students, even when teaching online.

Checking in for some one-on-one time virtually is a great way to ensure that your students are keeping up with their work, and to answer any questions or quell any concerns they may have. You can also set up chat rooms for students to communicate with one another or to ask you questions outside of class time—particularly helpful for shy students.

Getting to know each one of your students helps you gain an understanding of their individual needs and helps you cater to them in the best way possible. If one student, for example, seems to be interested in coding, you can point them to one of the many kid-friendly coding web resources available online.

Boosting your productivity as a teacher helps you make the most of your time, which in turn allows you to give your students the attention they need to thrive. Following the tips we outlined above will help you create a productive routine that works for you and your students.

Why Productivity Matters Beyond Efficiency 

Companies like Adobe have taken a dive into teacher efficiency and has uncovered a startling truth about saving money while saving the world.  Teachers and the school system could be greatly reducing costs with the adoption of eco-friendly practices, such as digital documents.

Here are a few stats to consider:

• The American US Education system uses 41.6 billion sheets of paper each year— equivalent to 4.16 million trees’ worth of paper every year— and spends $2.1 billion a year in printing paper alone.

• With digital documents, the average K-12 school can save $120,000 a year— an average savings of $13.50 per piece of paper replaced.

• For every 1,000 students that go paperless, a school saves 533 pounds of wood, 84 pounds of waste, and 1287 pounds of carbon dioxide.

So, here’s to better productivity for your classroom and school while shaping the minds of tomorrow to be the best they can be.

The connection between oral health and your child’s performance in class may not be obvious at first.  However, a child’s health and overall well being can have a major effect on every other aspect of their life. As the years pass, issues related to insufficient oral care can compound as children age.

How does Oral Health Affect School Performance?

Poor oral health can affect more than just your child’s teeth.  Bad dental hygiene and proper oral care can cause distracting discomfort or even pain that will have a negative impact on your child’s performance at school. It can even affect their social life, as one of the most common signs of poor oral health is bad breath, and children can often shun or mock other children at school if they smell bad.

Furthermore, if a minor oral health issue is left untreated, the problem can quickly turn into a much more serious problem such as tooth decay or even tooth loss. The early signs of cavities can easily go unnoticed if your child does not get regular dental checkups, especially as children often will not tell you about oral health problems they are experiencing for fear of getting in trouble.

To avoid these issues, it is absolutely vital for children to learn good oral hygiene habits and attend regular dental checkups.

How Pain Distracts The Brain

It is difficult for anyone to concentrate on challenging mental tasks when they are feeling pain, especially a school-aged child. A recent study conducted by the American Public Health Association found that children who are experiencing oral pain or other problems were falling behind their peers in terms of their performance in class.

Any kind of ongoing pain can be very distracting, and both physically and mentally exhausting for the person suffering it. In addition to reducing your child’s ability to focus on their work, this can also make them more irritable. It can increase the chance that they act out in class or have negative social interactions with their classmates.

Poor Oral Health Also Means Missing school

Children who have dental issues because of poor oral hygiene can often have to miss more school visits to the dentist, which naturally can lead to a drop in grades due to not being present in class to learn important parts of their course. According to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, children with poor oral health were 90% more likely to miss more than a week of school per year than other children who did not experience any oral health problems.

Absences can also affect a child’s performance in school because of the disruption to their routine. While a regular schedule leaves your child’s mind free to concentrate on their work in class, if a child is frequently leaving school early or missing entire days for dentist appointments, they will always be partly focused on that instead of their lessons.

Signs Your Child’s Oral Health is Impacting Their School

Children do not always tell their parents about the pain or discomfort they are experiencing as a result of poor oral care. They may fear that they will be punished for failing to brush their teeth, unaware of your concern for their dental health. As a result, they may not want to tell you about problems that they think might be related to not following your instructions regarding their oral hygiene. This means you might not find out about a problem until it has become a much more serious and painful issue for them.

Furthermore, children do not always understand why they are experiencing pain or poor health, and therefore will not mention it. Others simply might not know how to communicate the problem they are having, especially if they have not received any education in oral health and the potential results of poor oral health. Because of these problems, it is very important to look out for the early signs of an oral health issue and to teach your child to tell you if they spot any of those signs themselves. These signs can include:

• Tender, swollen, or bleeding gums
• Pain when chewing or swallowing
• Bad breath
• Discolored teeth
• Frequent or persistent ulcers or sores
• Teeth that are highly sensitive to temperature
• Swollen face or cheeks
• Painful, clicking or locking jaw

When these symptoms are not given attention with a follow up to a dentist, they will most likely lead to more severe problems.  It may not seem like a dental emergency today, but handling the issues now can prevent a lot of pain for the child and less cost for the parent in the future.

School-Based Programs to Promote Oral Health

Because oral health can play such an important role in children’s education at school, some schools are adopting health programs aimed at improving the oral health of the children attending their school. These typically include:

• Education about oral health, how to maintain good oral hygiene, and encouraging children to adopt healthier behaviors regarding their dental health.
• Basic oral health procedures to promote better dental hygiene while the children are at school, such as a regular fluoride mouth rinse to strengthen their teeth.
• Oral health screenings to provide early warning if a child shows signs of needing dental care.
• Applying dental sealant on children’s teeth to help to protect their teeth from decay caused by bacteria.
• Raising awareness about the effects that sugar can have on children’s teeth and oral health, and helping them to choose alternative foods and snacks with less sugar that are less harmful to their teeth.

Good Oral Health Habits Start at Home

While these school programs can help to support your child’s dental health while they are at school, good oral hygiene habits need to be established and maintained at home if they are going to become part of your child’s normal routine. This includes brushing at least twice a day with a fluoride-based toothpaste, and ideally also rinsing and/or brushing after each meal of the day.

Of course, it is not always possible for your child to brush their teeth after every meal, especially when they are at school. Encouraging the habit of always drinking and rinsing with water can help to wash out at least some of the bacteria and the sugars that they feed on from their mouth in between opportunities to brush their teeth properly.

Your child’s eating habits are also a crucial part of their oral health routine. Frequently snacking on candy, chocolate, and other foods that are high in sugar is naturally not advised. Bear in mind that most fruit contains a lot of sugar and acids that both damage your child’s teeth, so rinsing or brushing after eating these is just as important as doing so after eating other sugary foods like candy.

When your child is at home, you can make sure that they rinse and brush after enjoying sugary snacks, and you can control how much they eat. However, you cannot do this as easily when your child goes to school. If they are already in the habit of eating sugary snacks then they will continue to do so at school, where they cannot clean their teeth afterward. Getting your kids used to healthier snacks at home will help them to make healthier food choices when they are not at home.

Additional Resources:

If your child has a fear of dentists, educate yourself on how to help them overcome dentophobia.

Read about ways teens can cope with braces.

Is it safe for children to chew gum?