MiiPC Android Powered PC Lets Parents Monitor Kids' Activities

This Android powered PC sounds like a great solution for keeping your kids safe online.  This caught my attention because my husband is planning on splitting our family room into a dining room and office.  He wants to build a permanent wall.  I don’t.

It may seem silly on my part to not want to build a permanent barrier between the two rooms, but I have my reasons.  First, I don’t really want to be cut off from the rest of the house.  I won’t be able to see my girls playing or keep an eye on them.  Second, I want to be able to see with my own eyes what they are doing when they are online.  The way we have things set up right now the PC the girls use faces out into the kitchen and I can see and hear everything they are doing online.  Currently they only are using Disney Junior, Nickelodeon, Reading Eggs and other kid friendly sites.  My oldest is getting to an age where she is getting more curious about different subjects and has learned already how to effectively use Google and Wikipedia.  From the first time she put fingers to keyboard we discussed online safety and what is OK to share and who she can talk to.

Even in her schooling they had a whole series of lessons on what she can and should not share, choosing usernames and passwords and making sure she checks with an adult before she chats or emails anyone to anything.  As a young elementary student I still have a major amount of control over what she does and sees online, but I realize that is going to change drastically as she gets older and has to use the Internet more extensively for research on school projects or chooses to use it as a form of entertainment.  My hope is that my training on these issues of what is acceptable will be followed, but my concern is what may come in from the outside and how a child’s curiosity (even pre-teen and teenager) can get the best of them for the worst.

I appreciate the fact that this Android based computer will have recording of history and realtime statistics of what is being used.  It is comforting to know that I will be able to remotely disconnect and even disallow user login (aka when they are grounded from using the computer).  It’s not that I don’t trust my kids, but fact is they are just that – KIDS and the world outside which the Internet connects them to are not always kind to them or kid appropriate.