Little Man has been bugging me for a while for an email address. He just turned nine, and he’s at an age where some of his friends are using email, plus he hates that every time something says “enter your email,” he has to use mine. I’m pretty sure right now it has more to do with image than it does actually communicating with anyone, which is why I had resisted his entreaties thus far. When the opportunity came to review a site called KidsEmail.org, I thought this might be a good fit for him. For the purpose of this review, we received their Annual Subscription. This includes up to six email addresses. I set one up for Little Man and one for Big Boy, but Little Man has been the main user.
KidsEmail offers children the freedom of their own email address and all the good that comes with that: a personalized inbox, the ability to create custom folders, and contacts. In addition to the typical email inbox, KidsEmail also offers parents the ability to control all aspects of the experience, giving children their freedom while allowing parents to protect their kids as they see fit. All protections are customizable and can be turned on/off as the parent chooses.
Some of the protections include:
Mail monitoring— You can choose to have a copy of all of your child’s emails, sent and received, sent to your email.
Safety rules— Set it so your child cannot send or receive emails from anyone not on their contact list. Block specific email addresses. Control attachments, links, and images received.
Time limits— Set time restrictions to only allow your child to check their email at certain times of day and days of week.
KidsEmail can be accessed on a computer through their website, and they also offer apps on Apple, Android, and Kindle Fire, so your child can access their email through the device that is most convenient and useful to them. My boys have a Kindle Fire they use, and Little Man has been able to easily access his email through that. The apps also can be GPS enabled so you can see where your kids were when they accessed their mail. I have not used this feature, but it is available.
Probably my favorite thing about all these amazing features is that I can choose which to turn off and on. Personally, I usually lean towards the side of giving my kids more privacy, but I like that with KidsEmail I can choose exactly which features are important to me and change them as my children’s ages and maturity levels change. For my Little Man, I turned on about half of the features. I chose not to receive a copy of all emails he sends and receives, but I do only allow emails to and from those already on his contact list. If anyone outside of that list tries to email him, I receive a notification and can choose to share the message with him or not. I feel like for his first email address, this gives him some privacy but still allows me to protect him. If I ever feel that he is abusing his freedoms, I can log in and see what is being sent and received, and I can also change to stricter settings. Conversely, we may get to a point at which I feel he’s mature enough for me to turn off a few more security settings. We can customize at any point in a way that works just for us.
Little Man is loving having his own email address. It gives him a sense of independence he was missing before. He also loves how easy to use the app is. I think KidsEmail offers a great option for a first email, and I would recommend it for younger children especially.
