How to Ensure Your Kids Have a Safe Streaming Experience

How to Ensure Your Kids Have a Safe Streaming Experience

Last year, Covid-19 took the world by storm in an unexpected way. Most of us were unprepared and it left people stranded at home from lockdowns placed across several countries. Today, some countries in North America and Europe are still on lockdown due to the pandemic.

With schools and playgrounds inaccessible in the nearest future, kids have been left with no choice but to endure gruesome hours of sitting idle with no form of activity. As a parent, this is not good news as kids without schoolwork, chores or activities can disturb or affect parents’ work-from-home situation.

Technological Solution to Keep Kids Engaged

To solve this problem, most parents rely heavily on technology and digital solutions which include streaming services for their kids. This is to keep them occupied and connected with the outside world while the parents focus on work. This has resulted in an unprecedented rise in screen time and not all children have neither the knowledge nor the resources to keep themselves safe while accessing the internet.

Over 1.5 billion children have been introduced to streaming services and it is imperative as parents to find the best ones that offer not just quality services but also have great security setups to protect kids from the dangers of the internet such as hacking, sexual content, exploitation, and cyberbullying.

Best Streaming Services for Child-Friendly Content

With so many options of streaming services available online, choosing the best can be quite an uphill task. This article would simplify this process for you by listing out the best available options for child-friendly content. They include:

Disney Plus:

Disney+ is a great option for streaming services tailored for kids. It includes a vast catalog of kid content for movies, education, and music. It consists of both classic and new movies dating back as far as the early ‘90s.

Although Disney plus does not have a Live TV feature, it can have up to 4 simultaneous streams across different platforms with exclusive originals. At just $7 per month, Disney plus is one of the cheapest streaming platforms, and a lot of its content is also available in 4k resolution.

Disney+ also has parental controls option. This means you can determine whatever your children have access to or limit the content to PG, or PG-13 options. It is also available across several platforms such as iOS, Smart TVs, Chromebooks, Android devices, and many more, so if your kid doesn’t love big screens or vice versa, there’s an option available for him/her.

Available movies for kids include Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, The Last Dragon, The Simpsons, and many more movies that would leave your kids engaged and entertained.

Netflix:

Netflix is a big giant when we talk about streaming services. It has content for literally any age group and boasts of such a huge catalog of movies. It also does not have a Live TV feature; however, there can be 1 – 4 simultaneous streams depending on what subscription you’re on.

Netflix is the best streaming platform by miles as no other service comes close in terms of content and security. As a parent, setting up a Netflix account and a profile for your child means you’re exposing the child to a world of great content. Netflix allows you to create up to five different profiles on one account with the ability to restrict certain contents and titles so your child is not exposed to any explicit or immoral content.

Also, you can set up a PIN in the settings so that whenever a movie title is clicked and it’s above a certain age group for children, Netflix would restrict access to its content unless this pin is provided.

Examples of movies on Netflix include Spider-Man – Into the Spider-Verse, The Rainbow Kingdom, and so much more for your child’s entertainment.

Nick Jr.:

Nick Jr. is widely known as the new generation of Nickelodeon. It offers vast content tailored for kids because of its particular interest in children. It has content also for older children. Nick Jr. does not have a live TV feature also, but there’s free partial access to the streaming services with certain restrictions.

To get the best out of Nick Junior’s application, registration for access via a subscription is mandatory. There are options for games, educational materials, and other activities offered through its app.

Platforms that support this streaming service include tablets and phones. Examples of movies Nick Jr. offers include Tarzan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and other great movies.

PBS for Kids:

PBS is known for its constant production of quality content available on any Television set. There are classic education programs like Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers, Super Why, and many more.

PBS has content tailored to every child, regardless of whether these children have access to paid subscriptions such as cable TV. Other platforms where PBS can be viewed are computers, tablets, or mobile devices.

The PBS app is available for download on Smart TVs, iOS, and Android devices. Games and activities are available within the app as well. The user interface is quite simple for any child to understand and navigate without any hassles.

Other Tips to Ensure You Get the Best Out of Your Streaming Service

• Use A VPN to Unlock More Content: Due to different distribution laws, not all content would be available in your region. A VPN solves this problem. For example, if you use a VPN for Netflix, you will be able to unlock the content in other countries’ Netflix catalog. You will never have to worry if your kids run out of educational shows to watch.
• Set Up Parental Controls: Always set parental controls for every streaming service. This allows you to have a better understanding and control of the shows and movies they have access to and ensures that they only watch age-appropriate content.
• Always ensure you spend some time with your kids to know what kind of content they are exposed to.

Conclusion – How to Ensure Your Kids Have a Safe Streaming Experience

We don’t know when next our kids would be free to enjoy regular walks in the park or resume school activities, but before then, it’s left to you as a parent to ensure your kids have the best time online.