Like it or not, “technology management” is now a piece of the parenting pie. I don’t really understand how that works because none of the other pieces got smaller. I guess the pie just keeps getting bigger. At any rate, to be a responsible parent in this day and age you have to keep up with the latest in technology, whether you provide it to your child or not. Because here’s the thing – other people’s children have it. And those children are around your children.

Managing technology is a big job around our house with a mix of 5 tweens and teens. We have had some successes, and we have had some failures. And we have also learned that no matter the safeguards you put into place, nothing is failproof, and if your child wants to find trouble, they will find trouble. But gosh darn-it, it’s our job to make that as difficult as possible!

In our house, we have a whole toolbox of resources we use to stay on top of and manage technology. Today I’m starting a new series called The Parenting Tech Toolbox in which I’ll outline the different tools and resources we use to both manage, limit, and report on our kids’ technology usage.

First, I’m providing you with a checklist to use to ensure you cover all the bases when it comes to setting up Parental, Safety and Privacy settings. At first it may seem daunting, but over the course of the next several posts I’ll be directing you to several resources which provide detailed instructions on how to set up Parental Controls. I’ll also introduce you to some awesome monitoring and filtering software, where to find out the scoop on all the most popular apps and some great phone options based on your family’s needs.

Here’s the checklist you can use to make sure you setup controls and check settings on all of the necessary devices, apps and services available to your children. (You can click the image for a printable version.)

To learn how to actually modify the controls and settings on each of the items listed, check out my next post. Here’s to navigating parenting in this age of ever-changing technology together! May we all be Tech Savvy Parents!