Remotely controllable parental controls

Question

My child has serious issues focussing on school work. I would like to help her a bit, and am looking for a program that simply does the following. Remotely, from my computer I need to be able to put the internet connection of her computer in 2 modes: work and play time.

• In work mode, only a selected (by me) list of sites can be accessed
• In play mode, everything can be accessed except for a selected list of sites

Next to "switch to play mode" and "switch to work mode", I also need a button "switch to work mode in X minutes", so that her "break" ends automatically without me needing to be on my computer at that time.

I was wondering what software best to use for this. I've been looking mainly at parental control software (netnanny, qostodio, ...) and productivity software (focalfinder, coldturkey, ...) but none of them offers such functionality. What would you recommend me? If there are routers that have such functionality embedded, that's also an option, feel free to recommend those too.

All computers involved run Windows (7) and bonus points if it can cover her phone (android) as well.

Answer 1

Restrict access times and manage time slots ... remote control for Android and Windows

http://netaddictfree.com/UK/Detail%20Administration.php

... and another one for Android only:

http://www.screentimelabs.com

Answer 2

I am father of two children (one is even mentally disabled).

Technology does not help!

First: if you child don't want to change, he/she won't change.

Don't talk, LISTEN. What are the dreams and wishes if your child?

Try to get a good relationship otherwise you can talk and talk, but the child won't listen.

After you have listened to your child for some days (without giving advices): What are you afraid of? Tell your fears your child.

Answer 3

You can check out Child Control 2014 Parental Control for Windows PCs. They say majority of things you have asked. But not entirely sure about the modes. I think it's worth a look. It has a trial period. So you can use it for free for sometime. If you want you can buy it.

Answer 4

I use Qustodio; there is a free version but I pay for the premium version - the additional features are worth it for me; YMMV.

The iOS client isn't that good IMHO, but it is relatively new, and will improve. But the Windows & Android client a good.

You can limit access to various resources and alert you for others. You can set access times and usage limits per person, per device.

To address one particular point, while you don't have work and play-mode switches as such, you can dynamically change limits and their may be other creative approaches to satisfy your needs.

Answer 5

We had similar problem. Actually, we still have it but now the situation is better. I would suggest you talking to your kid. I did the same almost every day. Every day I tell him: "Ok. You have 1 hour for today" So, he is using his device and I'm tracking his time. When 10 minutes remain, I tell that 10 minutes left (for him to accustom to this). When the time runs out, I tell him to switch off a device. Definitely, he asks me to add some time and usually I give him 5-10 exta minutes. Of course, I can't controll him all the time, so I started using a parental control app - Kidslox (https://kidslox.com). The app allows setting a time limit for a day and automatically turn off the screen when the granted time runs out. I really like this app. As mentioned, the problem is not solved but I see positive results.