Activate Back-to-School Parental Controls

Get Kids Ready for Back-to-School

It’s that time of year again. Summer is winding down, and fall is around the corner, which means it’s time for your kids to go back to school. Back-to-school season is the perfect time to reassess how your kids use technology, from setting healthy habits to ensuring parental controls are correctly configured.

We’ve divided this article into sections to make it easier for parents to choose more age-appropriate technology and parental controls for their children, as not all recommendations are suitable for all ages.

Back-to-School Tech Recommendations for Elementary School

Elementary school-age children are vulnerable and impressionable, which is why it’s necessary to exercise extreme caution when giving them access to technology. We know it’s tempting to let that iPad buy you 30 minutes of peace during dinner — we get it! However, setting expectations now can make your life easier in the long term. Setting healthy tech rules early in your child’s life can help set them up for success rather than later struggling to break bad habits. Ensure children understand and adhere to the rules to prevent issues from arising while simultaneously embracing technology for their education and fostering an understanding of the benefits and limitations of technology for entertainment purposes.

Report Concerns – Teach your children to come to you if they see anything suspicious online, such as someone they don’t know reaching out and contacting them.
Encourage Offline Play – Encourage children to participate in sports, reading or other non-tech related hobbies to build better habits during childhood.
Bookmark Links – Make it easy for younger kids to stay focused by bookmarking their go-to learning tools, like class websites, school portals and kid-friendly educational apps.
MyWiFi Xtreme App and Parental Controls – Always exercise and use parental controls in the MyWiFi Xtreme App to help minimize contact interactions (strangers or unknown people online), restrict access to age-appropriate content and set time limits to prevent children from becoming addicted to screens.
Limit Internet Usage – Additionally, the MyWiFi Xtreme App allows parents to compare their children’s total internet usage across various apps and websites.
Rules – Establishing technology rules while children are young is essential to ensuring they have a healthy relationship with technology as they grow and into their adult years. Consider separating homework from entertainment time when setting screen limits — it helps kids stay focused and discourages rushing through assignments just to get to games or videos.

Back-to-School Tech Recommendations for Middle School and Intermediate Grades

The tween years – between 11 and 13 years old – may be full of pre-teen angst and mood swings, which is also why it’s harder for parents to manage tech overuse and digital drama. Children are beginning to find themselves, which means exerting greater independence, especially as they start navigating both online and offline social relationships. Pre-teens are often more influenced by their peers than by their parents during this stage of development. Maintaining open communication with your child is crucial, but as many parents discover, it can become challenging during the middle school years. Did you know that by the age of 12, 70% of middle school students already have their own phones? If children have their own devices, ensure that you adjust parental controls on them and enable settings to control these controls from your device so they can’t simply change or turn them off. Use advanced parental settings to manage how and when your child uses their device, like screen schedules, app restrictions and location sharing controls, all from your device. Most of this can be done right from the MyWiFi Xtreme app. We also recommend either limiting or restricting access to social media sites. Some social media sites, such as Instagram, allow you to set time limits, meaning kids can’t access social media while at school or during homework hours. YouTube settings also include the option to turn off Autoplay features. For more parental control options, visit Apple, Google or Microsoft.

Safety – Tech children the value of using strong passwords and not sharing them with their friends.
Communication Etiquette – Review proper communication etiquette with adults and peers, including what isn’t appropriate to send online.
Model Good Behavior – Instead of just telling children what is and isn’t acceptable online, model good behavior and take breaks from devices. Children learn by seeing strong parental examples.
Adjust Privacy and Setting Options – Help pre-teens get the rest they need by setting quiet hours or scheduled device downtimes. You can also manage location tracking and other privacy tools through parental controls.
Block Content – My WiFiXtreme App allows you to block and filter entire websites, internet categories and apps.
Do-Not-Disturb – Encourage focused study time by silencing notifications and setting screen-free periods during homework and school hours.

Back-to-School Recommendations for High Schoolers

The teenage years are known to give many parents well-earned gray hairs. The battle of how much time teens spend online is likely a losing one at this point. Instead of spending their remaining high school years pointlessly arguing, as a parent, try to focus on the positive uses of technology versus mindless scrolling. Addressing the key differences in time spent online allows teens who may spend hours researching an essay online to understand that the time spent on this task is time well spent compared to hours spent scrolling through social media sites. Encourage teens to follow and interact with colleges they may be interested in attending, as well as explore internships or even look for part-time jobs. Interacting with hiring managers online may equip them with the necessary skills to land their dream job one day. Help your kids create an online resume and update their online profiles, but also make sure you monitor the amount of information they put online due to child predators.

Digital Footprint – Talk with your teen about what their online presence says about them. Help them review old posts, tidy up profiles and remove anything they wouldn’t want a future employer or college to see.
Adjust Notifications – As children grow older, it’s essential to adjust their notifications. Ensure they adjust their do-not-disturb hours and enable focus time options during key homework hours.
Task Management – Teach children how to utilize technology to their advantage with task management, so they submit assignments on time, preparing them for future real-world work scenarios.
Document Organization – Before teens leave to attend college or enter the workforce, ensure they possess strong document organization skills. For example, consistent file names, folders for assignments, research materials and notes.
Set Specific Schedules – MyWiFi Xreme allows you to quickly set schedules for schooltime, bedtime and even meal times.
Networking – Teens can use social platforms for more than just entertainment — help them explore colleges, find internships or even reach out to professionals in careers they’re curious about.

Home Telecom Offers Back-to-School Parental Controls

Home Telecom is proud to help local families feel more confident navigating screen time this school year. Whether you’re looking to block content, place YouTube restrictions, enable safe internet searches, place time limits on devices, pause devices or check device usage, our MyWiFi Xtreme App offers robust parental controls at your fingertips. Learn more about MyWiFi Xtreme.

References:
Cyber Sensible. “Get Your Kids’ Tech Ready for Back-to-School.” Cyber Sensible. https://cyber-sensible.com/. Accessed 09 July 2025.