A Modern Way for Kids to Connect with Loved Ones for the Holidays

Both my husband’s and my work involve a great amount of technology, so we understand its importance and the positive impact it can have. But like many parents, we also want to make responsible decisions and have what I would consider pretty firm rules and views surrounding technology. We limit screen time with our children, neither child has her own smart device, and neither has access to social media or You Tube. 

But my girls see me utilizing social media and video chat apps to get work done and communicate with friends, and they are always begging me to play with my phone and to video chat with family. So when I was first introduced to Messenger Kids, an app that makes it easier for kids to video chat and message with family and friends, I was intrigued. Of course my cybersecurity husband was a skeptic at first, but he came around because parental control and child safety are at the heart of Messenger Kids. 

We decided to create a profile for our 7 year old daughter. Especially with it being the holidays, we want her to stay connected with family and “cousin-friends”, many of whom live far away. Messenger Kids is a really fun way for kids to creatively communicate with loved ones in a safer and responsible environment in a space that’s made just for them. So though we can still check in on our daughter’s messaging threads, she can still feel the independence and freedom to let loose and be silly.

My daughter is able to send messages to grandparents, which my mom loves to see after a long day at work, and open presents from family and friends via video chat which is the next best thing to being together in person. We do an annual ornament exchange with our friends in Rhode Island, and we can’t wait to open our ornaments via video chat since we can’t be together in person.

And she loved the recently launched holiday filters and stickers – they are a festive way to spread holiday cheer! And now, parents can use a Santa chat thread to send messages that will show up in Messenger Kids as coming from Santa Claus. My daughter got such a kick out of this because the message came straight from the “North Pole”. 

Why Messenger Kids:

Since online safety and screen limits are of utmost importance to my husband and me, here are the reasons we like Messenger Kids:

1. The app is installed under the parent’s Facebook profile. *You are NOT creating an account for your child. 
2. Parents control their child’s contact list. When you install the app, you are able to see which of your friends’ kids are on the app and you can add them as contacts for your kids. Our list is very small: grandparents, our long-distance aunts and uncle, and two very close family friends.
3. More Control for Parents. I do think it’s important to respect a child’s privacy, but our kids are still so young, that this is a no-brainer for me. I appreciate that kids cannot delete any photos, messages or videos.
4. Parents can manage the screen time. This is probably my favorite feature – parents can set a sleep mode with off times for the app to help manage screen time. Though I also think it’s important to have this conversation with kiddos on why limits and boundaries are important!

Installing & Setup:

The app is free and can be downloaded from any of the app stores:

• Apple
• Android
• Amazon Fire Tablet

To set it up:

• Download the Messenger Kids app to a phone or tablet.
• Authenticate the device by using your Facebook login.
  • This will not create a Facebook account for your child.
• Create an account for your child by adding their name.
• Parental controls are available in the Parent Dashboard in your main Facebook app.
• Through the Parent Dashboard, you can add contacts for your kids and set on and off times through the Sleep Mode feature.

The Messenger Kids App really is so much fun, and I suggest you give it a try! 

How do your children stay connected with long-distance relatives?