Our Foray into GoGuardian Parent App

Tee and I this year, perhaps like some of you, have struggled to manage our kid’s time online. In spite of promises to ourselves and to our 5th grader, her time online has grown considerably since this pandemic began. As she will be the first to point up, we’ve all been on our devices more than ever. Trying (unsuccessfully) to redirect the focus back to her screen time, I realize that the increased screen time during pandemic can’t be helped. It’s a challenge and a dilemma. But an elevated level of interest in our child’s online activity feels responsible and necessary.

At one level, we’re pretty attuned to our kid’s activity and her devices. But that too often consists of one of us yelling upstairs: “Tatum, bring us that Ipad! You’ve had _____ time on that thing (more than your allotted time) today!” We try to limit the time per day. We keep custody of the device in the evening. And we remind her that the device is not actually hers (a mere technicality, in her mind). She does not own or use a phone, other than, until very recently, a ‘Gizmo’ wristwatch, which is more a GPS tracking device than a phone, though with some modest (restricted address book) phone, texting, and other functions. Lately, we allow her to use an Apple watch for the same purposes (only at home or when we go somewhere).

Back in late January, Joe P. sent an email out to parents of students in Grades 3 through 8 announcing Burgundy’s rollout of the GoGuardian Parent app, which allows parents to keep an eye on their child’s use of their Chromebook and to put restrictions on screen time (outside of school hours).  We’d previously experimented with another filtering app. “Experimented with” meaning paid for, found frustrating, yet continued to pay for, for several months.

When I finally, with Joe’s help, uploaded the Parent GoGuardian app, I was surprised at how easy it was to get started! 

Our child’s name and profile from the in-school GoGuardian program came right up. Within seconds I was looking at an overview of her online activity — and, with a click, all her browsing activity. I tensed! Google classroom was, as it should have been, the primary site used during school hours. There were also lots of before and after-school visits to YouTube. These mostly comprised searches about tiny houses. Relief! 

Within a few more minutes I was able to input time limits on the Chromebook for internet use, shutting down internet use from 9 PM to 12 AM and 12 AM to 7 AM. For now, that felt appropriate and somewhat comforting. We will probably look for a way to do the same for the family Ipad since GoGuardian only protects her school Chromebook. In about 10 minutes I felt we’d taken a big step in demonstrating interest in and knowledge of our child’s life online. The goal is to help us, coach, be alert, and set limits, not to create absolute firewalls. In the long run, as with everything else, we have to help our child be able to make good choices for herself; but for now, we feel strongly that some better monitoring not only alleviates some of our fears but also helps her take care and provides a good starting point for important conversations. Further down the road, we may not want or be able to have as much (or any) control over the hours she can have on her devices; but for now, it feels correct.

If you are the parent of a 3rd to 8th Grade student and you missed Joe’s email (or just never got around to setting up the GoGuardian Parent app), a copy of his invitation email can be found using this link.

Regarding the scary places our kids could be venturing/seeing accidentally or on purpose, we have a health curriculum, parent resources, and parent meetings to support us all, because, unfortunately, some confronting content concerns in our collective futures if not squarely in the present, and with natural emerging curiosities and who likes whom or who is whats conversations there are bound to be …...