No matter your age, it’s normal to be concerned about your kids. My own mom recently confessed that she worries about me every single time I get on an airplane, and she still watches me back my car out of her driveway to make sure I get myself safely on the road after leaving her house.
That apple didn’t fall far from the tree; I have plenty of worries about my own kids. I always say I want my kids to grow up to be good people who live long, healthy, happy lives. But the sheer variety of things that could get in the way of that is enough to make me lose sleep for the rest of my life!
Anyone with children knows that online safety is one of these major concerns. My husband and I have pretty strict rules about what Haiden and Piper can do online, but we both know that our rules and restrictions have to evolve as the kids get older.
One thing that my daughter has been wanting to do for as long as I can remember is send text messages. She actually wants to send them to me more than anyone else!
The kids share a tablet and have a few of my old phones to use on Wi-Fi, but, until recently, there wasn’t a texting for kids app that I felt comfortable with her using on her own.
Now we have Messenger Kids in our lives and we’re both very happy about it!
3 Reasons why Messenger Kids is an ideal way of texting for kids:
1. The Messenger Kids app is fun.
Let’s be 100% honest. Whether it’s a toy or a shirt or an app, I can love something with all of my heart, but that item will be next to useless if my kids don’t like it.
That’s why it’s so wonderful that all of the features of the Messenger Kids app were designed with kids in mind:
- There are masks, stickers and drawing tools to decorate pictures before sharing them.
- Emojis and sound effects bring conversations to life.
- A curated library of kid-appropriate GIFs are available to kids to let them express reactions and thoughts in their own personal way.
2. The Messenger Kids app offers top-notch parental controls.
There are plenty of parental controls that put the Messenger Kids app in a class of its own when it comes to texting for kids, but I want to tell you about the best part: account creation.
I created Piper’s Messenger Kids profile via my Facebook account, she only needed to provide her first name to establish an account, and setting up a Messenger Kids account for her did not create a Facebook account for her.
Additionally, I pre-approved every contact she has in her Messenger Kids app, so I control who she’s able to connect with. That’s a really great setup in my book!
Another awesome parental control is the sleep mode feature, which lets me turn off the app when I want to. I like being able to do this so I know Piper isn’t staying up all night chatting with friends.
3. The Messenger Kids app works
It’s not fun to get all excited about something new in tech, only to find it buggy and unusable.
Piper and I sat together to set up the app on one of my phones, and it was a simple process that she could to herself once I authenticated my Facebook account. From there, she took a selfie for a profile picture and almost instantly sent me a message!
She then realized she could take and send photos right in the app, meaning she would have been more than happy to play with pictures and stickers for the rest of the week if we let her!
Honestly, a spotty Wi-Fi signal was the only hiccup we had while using the app for the first time, and that had nothing to do with the app itself!
All in all, I’m loving the Messenger Kids app so far. Not only does it have pretty much everything I’m looking for in terms of safety and usability for my child, it’s also fun. It’s really cute to get an emoji-laden message from Piper, and it’s a sweet new way for us to communicate!
To learn more about the Messenger Kids app check out their website, Facebook page, or download the app in the Apple, Android, or Amazon Fire app stores.
Leave a Reply