Parental Controls

Parental controls are setting that are included on the newer gaming systems including the X-box 360, Wii, and Playstation 3 to help parents control what content their children are able to access either on or offline. Effective use of these controls can help protect your children from whatever video game evils you happen to perceive, whether it's mature content, crude online gamers, or excessive playing times.



For example, the X-box 360 possesses a parental control system much like those on modern cable boxes. A parent can get onto the system and set a password to be entered before M-rated content can be accessed. They can also force the system to turn off after a set number of hours have been played. In conjunction with talking with your children, these controls can help stop video games from becoming too much of a good thing.

The online controls available on X-box live are also vital to protecting your children, particularly their sensitive ears. To name just a few of their functions, the online controls can prevent children from hearing gamers who aren't on their friends list, deny other gamers from viewing their online profiles and restrict purchasing of online content.


Parental controls provide an excellent avenue for limiting children's exposure to questionable content and people. They allow parents to monitor their children's video game experience without watching over their shoulders every minute. Used correctly, they can essentially eliminate children's access to inappropriate content. Make sure to learn about these controls in the manuals that come with the consoles.