Smart home devices are great for saving time and taking orders, as well as providing us with a lot more data about how our homes behave. But these abilities are mostly focused on adults – what happens when you add kids to the mix? While some brands like to strengthen the ability to track or monitor your kids, it’s not always so easy.
Families quickly learn that their kids can master the use of smart home tech, but that doesn’t mean all home automation is safe for them. This is especially true for young children who do not yet understand what smart homes can do.
It’s not hard to make a smart home childproof, but you need to know the right settings and practices. Let’s take a look at the most important points.
Practice using voice assistants – and mute their mic
Voice assistants can quickly get out of the hands of children at home, especially when children are learning and experimenting with how to work. Your child may not be able to order a puppy to Alexa (Amazon has yet to find a way to supply them), but they can order many more things, not to mention disarm your security system or mention the media you are running. They still don’t want to see.
Start by seeing how voice assistants work with your kids. Engage them in the home automation process, teach them important boundaries for using smart tech, and show them how to use features properly.
Plus, master the mic-mute capabilities on your smart speakers Today’s smart speakers usually have a dedicated button or mic-off mechanism so that the speaker can no longer accept voice commands. This is a good idea if you can’t always take care of your kids.
Find child-safe robots
In an average smart home you find two simple robots – Vacuum robots, and longmaver robots. Vacuum robots are very harmful for children. It is important to teach kids to stay out of their way and keep their fingers off, but they are less likely to have an accident.
Robot Lonmawar is a different story. If you are interested in a robot lawn mower, always look for one that has child- and pet-friendly features. Typically, this means a guard around the mower’s blade to simply cut the grass and the sensors that will cut the power when the lawn mower is lifted.
Keep AC units, purifiers and other devices out of reach
Smart air conditioners, purifiers, diffusers and other devices make it easy to schedule operations, check filters and even monitor air quality. But when the kids reach the age of pushing the button, they will keep pressing the button again and again. For headaches, and any possible injuries or falls, keep these devices out of reach on a high counter or shelf. They should be able to do their job properly from there, but they will be out of reach of small hands.
Robot vacuum stations are more complex. Some stations have begun adding features that disable all buttons on docking stations, so kids can’t give robot commands by hitting the station button. We expect more locking features like this in tomorrow’s smart devices, but for now, they’re relatively rare. Find models that offer child lock for your own peace of mind
Mount your smart speaker
Similarly, smart speakers rarely have the option to turn off all buttons. Instead, look for models that are easy to mount or suitable for high shelves. Nest Mini 2nd-Jane, for example, is specially designed with slots so that it can be easily mounted on the wall where children will not be able to interfere with it.
Do not disrupt the sleep cycle
Sleep cycles are especially important for growing children, and should not get in the way of a smart home. When setting up your routine and response, keep in mind the types of sleep. You don’t want loud news announcements or all the lights in the house going on at 6 in the morning if your child is still asleep. You also don’t want a smart security camera outside your child’s bedroom to turn on its spotlight whenever it sees some moving page, so look for a camera that has reliable person detection, or make sure the motion sensor can’t control the light.
Set password and app security
No matter what smart device you have, always set up available passwords to keep them secure and make them difficult for premature babies to manage. If available, you may want to set a separate password for the Smart Device app on your phone, especially if your kids occasionally play with your phone as a distraction.
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