Safe kids Email

[Syele]

Just thought this idea for a kid-safe email might be helpful to some people here. This is how I set up my daughters safe email account so it's internet safe (and free).

I signed up for a gmail account. here is how to make it safe:

First, add people to your child's contact list and in the quick Contacts list you can run your mouse over the name and it gives an option to "change picture" I have pictures of her friends in there so she is sure she is emailing the right person.

then do settings --> filters --> create new filter
in there fill in these blanks:

to: your childs email address

Doesn't have: list peoples email addresses that you allow them to get email from UNMONITORED (here I have my dd's grandparents, myself, and a couple of kids that she is best friends with.) put OR between them so it looks like this : grandma@grandma.com OR mommy@mommy.com OR bstfriend@bestfriend.com OR bestfriend2@bestfriend.com

Then go to "next step":

check all these:

Skip the Inbox (Archive it)
Forward it to: youremail@youremail.com
Delete it

This will send YOU all the email that is not approved. You child will never get a Viagra ad or an email from a stranger. Their spam folder will always remain empty. If you get something that you want them to see you can forward it to them from you instead if it showing from the original sender. You can always add more approved people later.

[JohnEdelson]

I think this is a very clever and useful way to implement a kid safe email system. I think I'll use it on my own 8 and 10 year olds who want an email but I haven't been sure how to do it.

Thanks

[Syele]

You're welcome. I'm glad it helped someone for me to post it.

[Sonja Philip]

I'm not sure if gmail offers this, but we have emails set up on our own domain for our kids with similar precautions. Also, I set it up so that every email my kids SEND is automatically blind copied to me. (they are 12 and 8 ).

[Syele]

I have actually been thinkng of putting mine and my dd accounts in Gmail but under the domain name I own, it's free for families and groups. Gmail doesn't say they offer the services for kids, I just play with the filters to do it how I want. I don't know of a way to have all the sent mail also sent to me, but I do check her sent box fairly often. since I know her passwords.

Once they are teenagers and know how to mess with the filters it won't be as secure. but my dd is almost 6 and is doing well to email her Nana.

[pcsmith]

Thanks for this post. I was looking for a good solution and this seems like the best fit, but I think I have a couple things to add

If you leave the to: field blank it will let messages through that they might be blind CC'd on.

I'm using pop3 access so my kids can't accidentally change any settings so this may only apply in that situation:
Instead of forwarding a message that hits the filter you can log in to the Gmail web app and move it from the trash to the Inbox. This will cause the message to download through pop3 the next time they access it.

Again, thank you!

[Lisa333]

This is so great that I thought I'd say thank you. Also, I'm going to quote this elsewhere so I've slightly refined the write-up:

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This is how I to set up a free email account so it's 100% safe. As a parent, you can preview all of your child's mail. Or, you can designate which users can send emails to her without you previewing them. Al the others go to you first. This way, you can throw away all the strange email about viagra etc

1. Sign up for a gmail account. Go to: www.gmail.com

2. Click on settings --> filters --> create new filter
Then, fill in these blanks:

to: your childs email address

Doesn't have: list peoples email addresses that you allow them to get email from UNMONITORED (here I have my dd's grandparents, myself, and a couple of kids that she is best friends with.) put OR between them so it looks like this : grandma@grandma.com OR mommy@mommy.com OR bstfriend@bestfriend.com OR bestfriend2@bestfriend.com

3. Go to "next step":

check all these:

Skip the Inbox (Archive it)
Forward it to: youremail@youremail.com
Delete it

This will send YOU all the email that is not from one of the people that you approve. All email from other senders will immediately be forwarded to you and deleted. You can then forward it or delete. You can also go in and add new friends when you think it's appropriate. Their spam folder will always remain empty. If you get something that you want them to see you can forward it to them from you instead if it showing from the original sender. You can always add more approved people later.

Two more points.

If your child would like to see pictures of who they are sending email to:

First, add people to your child's contact list and in the quick Contacts list you can run your mouse over the name and it gives an option to "change picture" I have pictures of her friends in there so she is sure she is emailing the right person.

Setting up an igoogle homepage for your child

This is great. I put her gmail account, her favorite sites (Time4Learning.com, SpellingCity.com, PBSkids.org, LearningGamesForKids.com) on it as well as a quote of the day, this day in history, a dictionary, and her gmail account.

[iberkner]

I've been doing this stuff with gmail and my kids and it works great!