I was determined that my youngest would not go down the same path. I set the computer up in the family room and enforced strict times when the computer could be used. This worked and all was good until we reached age 14. Even though I had visual access to the computer it did not seem to matter. We argued constantly about the amount of time that was spent online. I also battled to get it to be turned off at night. I was worried about homework, sleep and the affect that long periods of computer usage have on a young person.  My son (now 16) seemed to have constant back pain from sitting in the same position for long periods. He also had headaches and seemed generally unwell.

We searched the internet for a suitable program that would restrict computer usage. As none suitable were available my husband decided to write a program, named Time Guardian. This program has truly made a big difference to our home. We sat our son down and discussed what we thought was a suitable amount of time to spent online.  Currently we have allowed 15 hours of gaming per week, the program stops all games at 10 pm so he has to have everything finished up so he can go to bed. We have also set applications such as Google/Facebook/YouTube to finish at this time as well.  I don’t think that this is ideal and if I had had the program when he was younger I would have enforced fewer hours and an early bed time. However the new restrictions have made a big difference to the amount of homework being done. We are no longer arguing constantly and we generally have a happier home.

Look familiar?

Time Guardian parental control program assists in monitoring the amount of time spent on the computer. If you only want your children to play games or use Facebook/Google, between 4 and 5 pm this is easily done by setting up the time grid. Times can be tailored to each child, allowing for more liberal restrictions for older children. Time Guardian can also be set to stop applications when a time limit has been reached. That is if you only want your children to play between 4-5 pm but only want them to use 3 hours per week then the program  can be set to terminate after the 3 hours have accumulated.

I believe that children should grow up with this type of program on their computer. Healthy computer habits need to be learnt at an early age. Time Guardian assists in developing these habits. Parents are also offered a free two week trial so that they can decide if it is right for them. Our site is monitored seven days a week and we respond quickly to any problems. I hope you will try the Time Guardian. Any feedback you have is welcome and can be posted by joining our blog