New Toys Mean New Technology

Like many parents we leaned into the technology this Christmas.  The daughter got a TV that I would've murdered our family dog for when I was her age.

RIP Buffy.

The boy got a Nintendo...which looks a lot different than the Nintendo I got back then.  The Switch is like a normal gaming console combined with a Gameboy, which I never owned but was able to play with my buddy, Matt's.

The problem I'm running into is the fact that the kids stay up later than us during Christmas break.  Sometimes by many hours.  It's fine now...but come school time they'll need to shut things down a lot earlier.

So, I need some "parental control" automation with these devices.

It's not that I think my kids will purposefully go behind my back and disobey my request to lay off the screen time (but they will).  Honestly...I'm more worried about the internet use.

I've added "you're wasting internet" to my father's list of rules including "shut the light when you leave the room" and my mother's "leave the thermostat alone...put on a sweater if you're cold".

I've figured out that most companies don't  ACTUALLY care about you and your kids.  They've realized that this is another monthly payment you may be willing to shell out.

But not me.  I've figured out...after a full day of googling...that I can put the kids on a "guest" wifi.  Then every night as I go to bed...I can set it to allow for 1 hour (or more) to make sure they obey my illogical rules about using our "unlimited" internet.

Yeah. Sometimes I gripe just to gripe.