Category: Recommended Products
eBLASTER Mobile – Smartphone Monitoring at its Finest
Monitoring your child’s mobile device and computer doesn’t make you a helicopter parent; it makes you a responsible parent. eBLASTER Mobile ($99.95) is a monitoring software solution for Android and Blackberry smartphones. It monitors your child’s text messages, call logs, geo-location and web browsing history. And much like eBLASTER, parents only need to assign an [...]
Spector Pro – The Ultimate Computer Monitoring System for Your Family
Monitoring your child’s digital activity is responsible parenting. It’s not an invasion of privacy or a reflection of lack of trust between you and your child. It’s a safety necessity. Spector Pro ($99.95) is a monitoring solution for Windows 7, Vista, XP and Apple OSX, brought to you by SpectorSoft. The software is extremely comprehensive [...]
Common Sense Media – A Hub of Advice and Reviews for Parents
At Yoursphere for Parents we take pride in providing parents with information and advice on social networking and Internet safety. But as a resource that parents can turn to for advice on the movies, books, music and games that are appropriate (or not appropriate) for their children, I recommend looking no further than Common Sense [...]
Family iBoard Review – A Social Networking Tool Created Just for Families
The Family iBoard, which is available for Windows, Mac OSX, and all iOS devices, gives your family their own secure Private Family Network. Think of it as a digitally secure safe where your family members can share private information and content with each other without worrying about their privacy being violated. It’s also a great way to keep [...]
Advice for Life App Review
Advice for Life ($.99) is a new application by Parenting Bookmark that gives you a panel of parenting, relationship and health experts right on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The app grants you access to videos and podcasts created by the experts, their weekly updated tips and advice, as well as the ability to [...]
uKnowKids Software Review
uKnowKids is a new web-based monitoring system for your child’s smartphone and social network accounts. For testing purposes, our team used the “Premier” subscription which provides comprehensive monitoring on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, as well as Android-powered smartphones and Blackberry devices. Subscription prices vary depending on how many children you want to monitor, extra features [...]
Eliminate the Temptation – Best Ways to Prevent Your Teen from Texting While Driving
The recent and tragic case of the 17-year-old young man from Northern California who, while texting and driving, plowed into a family of three while they were riding bikes, killing the father and 9-year-old daughter, left me hyper-aware. Hyper-aware because that young man could’ve been one of my own sons; hyper-aware because in the bicycle-friendly [...]
How to Easily Block Ads on Your Child’s Computer
The idea of ad companies and marketing firms having an “online profile” of your child based on their web browsing habits is of definite concern. Unfortunately, this isn’t just an idea; it’s a reality. In fact, it’s how companies like Google and Yahoo! make money. One of the key methods used to collect this data [...]
Ranger Browser – A Safe Browser for Your Child’s iPhone, iPad or Android
Tablets and smartphones are great tools for entertaining and educating our children. And as a mother of five, I know just how great of a distraction they can be on those long road trips where the only thing the kids want other than food and sleep is to be entertained. I’m sure most parents would [...]
Screen Retriever Review and Installation Guide
As a parent, I always want to know where my children are, who they’re hanging out with, and what they’re doing. I like to try and give them a balance between freedom and safety, let them grow and mature yet still make sure they don’t do anything that has the potential to harm them. This [...]
Two Solutions to Help You Detect Cyberbullying on Your Child’s Smartphone
I’ve said it time and time again: face-to-face communication with your child or teen about issues like cyberbullying and sexting, and the consequences of such actions, is the key to helping them make the smartest digital decisions. Of course, not all teens are willing to listen, let alone talk about the issues, and most young [...]
Facebook Monitoring Solutions for Parents
For parents who have made the conscious decision to allow their kids or tweens to use Facebook, there are several monitoring solutions out there that can help you keep an eye on their activity, and more importantly, keep them safe. Figuring out which one works best, however, can be a pain. Below is an in-depth [...]
Five iPhone Games That Are Safe and Fun
It can be tough to sort through mobile games in the iTunes App Store, especially if you’re a parent looking for a game that won’t bombard your kid with ads, virtual currency or inappropriate content. And unless you know where to look, a game’s rating can be a little tricky to find since it doesn’t [...]
11 Mobile Parental Controls from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint & T-Mobile
Finding a mobile plan that’s right for your family can be tough. And I’m not talking about deciding which texting or minutes plan to get, I am talking about parental control plans that help you manage your children’s texting, talking and mobile web browsing usage. The four main providers—Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile—all offer very [...]
An Easy Way to Introduce and Teach Your Children Responsible Texting
Update 1/23/2013: The Text Free application now allows for picture messaging. I recommend that parents keep a close look at the content of their children’s texts just to make sure they’re talking about age-appropriate content. At what age is it OK for your child to have a cell phone? Better yet, a smartphone? If your [...]
Review: Parental Options Software
I think the steps that Parental Options has taken with their software sort of symbolizes “the future” of software as a tool to help parents keep their kids safe online. There’s no doubt that education and talking to your kids about Internet safety is, and always will be, the key to having Internet-safety smart kids, [...]
Meet Kajeet
When I find a company, a brand, an individual or cause that shares the same values for youth that we do at Yoursphere, I like to share. Meet Kajeet. Kajeet is a cell phone service made for kids, and the first US cell phone carrier to win the iParenting Media Award for 2009 Excellent Products in [...]
AT&T Smart Limits
Has your child ever woke up on a school-day morning looking like they didn’t quite get a full-nights sleep? Have you worried that they’ve been distracted with text messaging when it was homework or study time? Have any of your kids had their phone taken away at school because they were texting instead of paying attention to the [...]
Mary Kay is a nationally-recognized Internet safety expert and the founder of 
