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Bark Review: How to Protect Your Kids Online {The Daily Dash: June 10, 2019}
IN THE NEWS:
* David Ortiz shot in DR
* Mexico will not face new Tariffs
* James Corden hosted Tony Awards
* Vanderbilt advances to College World Series
* Bruins force game 7 in Stanley Cup
* Rafael Nadal wins 12th French Open
* National Ballpoint Pen Day
IN THE WORD:
Do you really believe that God will do in you what you cannot do? ~ Oswald Chambers
IN MY LIFE:
A few of you have come to me in the past year to ask how we ‘monitor’ our kids on social media and help keep our kids safe online, so I wanted to share the tool we trust: Bark.
Bark monitors their phone and sends notifications only when sketchy activity pops up — things like sexting, cyberbullying, and online predators. This way, I don’t have to spend hours scrolling through all their messages.
While I don’t think any teenager wants you reading their text messages or stalking their social media, our teens appreciate Bark more than anything else we’ve tried. With Bark, we’re not looking at their phones all the time and they know we’re only going to come to them if an issue is flagged.
Bark also helps our family because we have specifics to approach our kids with and we’re not just constantly saying generalities like, “Watch your language” or “Be nicer to your friends”.
There are two issues I wish I could improve about Bark:
1. Some of their filters are really sensitive. For example, when my 13yo son searches certain Fortnite topics on YouTube, it gets flagged for “Violence”
2. While Bark will send you actual snapshots of text messages or images saved on your kids’ phones, it doesn’t always provide enough context for me to figure out if it’s worthy of having a conversation with my teen or not.
That being said, I still have appreciated this tool more than any other we’ve tried. Bark truly balances the line between parental information and teen privacy. We still keep our kids passwords handy, but because they know what we’re doing, we haven’t had to go into their phones in forever and it helps build trust and facilitate tough conversations.
Plus, Bark offers great customer service and parental support (and God knows I need all the help I can get!).
Bark costs $9 per month (total per family) OR you can get a discount if you pay for a year in advance ($99); this is the option we have.
If you want to explore Bark for your family, check out this link for a free trial: https://www.bark.us/signup?ref=3XG4C95.
PRAYER FOCUS: Protection
I pray protection over you and your kids today.
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Hope you have a great day, make sure you make it great and don’t forget to tell someone you love how you feel about them!
