TL;DR: The "I have five minutes before soccer practice" version
- Best Overall App: The Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app is the gold standard for ease of use.
- Biggest Money Pit: Set a monthly spending limit on Roblox and Fortnite immediately.
- The "Secret" PC Fix: Use Steam Families to manage PC gaming without losing your mind.
- Chat Safety: Disable voice chat with strangers on Discord and in-game lobbies for kids under 13.
- The Goal: Moving from "policing" to "parenting" by using tech as a scaffold, not a wall.
Ask our chatbot for a step-by-step guide for a specific console
We’ve all been there. You tell them "five more minutes," and thirty minutes later, they’re still "locked in" (as the kids say) to a match of Fortnite. You feel like the bad guy, they feel like you’re ruining their life, and the whole evening goes sideways.
Parental controls aren't just about cutting the Wi-Fi at 8:00 PM. They are about managing the three things that actually cause the most friction in modern households: Spending, Safety, and Sleep.
Whether your kid is obsessed with Minecraft, building an empire in Roblox, or trying to get a "win" in Apex Legends, the tools available now are actually pretty decent—if you know where to find them.
Nintendo is the "Disney" of the gaming world—they know their audience is families, and their controls reflect that. Instead of digging through clunky menus on the console, you do everything from a dedicated app on your phone.
- The "Bedtime Alarm": You can set a hard limit for the day. When the time is up, a notification pops up on their screen. You can even set it to "Suspend Software" which effectively pulls the plug (use this sparingly unless you want a full-blown meltdown).
- Whitelisting: You can restrict games by age rating (ESRB).
- Monthly Reports: It tells you exactly what they’re playing. If you see 40 hours of Suika Game, you know they’re in a "cozy game" phase. If it’s 40 hours of YouTube on the Switch, you might want to have a talk.
Xbox (and PC gaming via Windows) uses the Microsoft Family Safety system. It’s a bit more "corporate" feeling than Nintendo, but it’s powerful.
- Cross-Device Limits: If your kid plays Minecraft on both an Xbox and a PC, Microsoft can track their total time across both.
- Spending Requests: This is the killer feature. Instead of putting your credit card on their account (never do this), they have to "Ask to Buy." You get a notification on your phone, see the price, and can hit "Approve" or "Deny."
- Friend Management: You can see who they are adding as friends, which is helpful once they start getting into more social games like Sea of Thieves.
Sony’s system is solid but requires you to set up a "Family Manager" account.
- Communication Restrictions: Sony allows you to completely disable chat and messaging. This is huge for games like Call of Duty, where the lobby chat can get "Ohio" (weird/toxic) very quickly.
- Spending Caps: You can set a monthly limit to $0.00, meaning they literally cannot spend a dime without you manually adding funds to their wallet.
- Web Browser Disabling: Most people forget the PS5 has a hidden web browser. You can disable this to prevent them from stumbling onto the darker corners of the internet.
The PC is the "Wild West." If your kid is gaming on a laptop or desktop, they are likely using Steam. For a long time, Steam’s parental controls were garbage. That changed recently with Steam Families.
- Family Sharing: You can share your library of games with them, but they get their own save files and "achievements."
- Child Accounts: You can now see what they are playing and set time limits directly through the Steam interface.
- The Epic Games Store: If they play Rocket League or Fortnite on PC, they are using the Epic Games Store. Epic now uses "Cabined Accounts" for kids under 13, which automatically disables chat and purchases unless a parent gives permission via email.
Ages 6-9: The "Full Lockdown" Phase
At this age, kids don't have the impulse control to stop when a game tells them to. They also don't understand that "free-to-play" games like Roblox are designed by psychologists to make them want to buy "skins."
- Action: Set a $0 spending limit. Disable all voice chat. Use the "hard stop" feature for screen time.
- Recommended Games: Super Mario Odyssey, Toca Life World, and Bluey: The Videogame.
Ages 10-12: The "Social" Phase
This is when they want to play with friends from school. They’ll ask for Discord.
- Action: Allow "Friends Only" chat. Keep the console in a common area. Start discussing what "toxic behavior" looks like in a game like Overwatch 2.
- Recommended Games: Minecraft, Splatoon 3, and Stardew Valley.
Ages 13-15: The "Trust but Verify" Phase
They are going to find ways around your filters. At this point, the controls should be more about "check-ins" than "lockouts."
- Action: Transition to "Spending Requests" rather than a total ban. Keep an eye on Discord servers. If they’re playing "sweaty" (ultra-competitive) games, talk about how to handle the frustration of losing.
- Recommended Games: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Hades, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
Check out our guide on whether Discord is safe for middle schoolers
Not all gaming is created equal. There's a massive difference between your kid spending two hours building a complex redstone circuit in Minecraft and two hours watching "Skibidi Toilet" memes inside a low-effort Roblox server.
When you’re looking at the data in your parental control apps, don't just look at the time. Look at the content.
- High Value: Strategy, creativity, cooperation, problem-solving.
- Low Value: Gacha mechanics (gambling-lite), "tycoon" games that are just clicking buttons to make numbers go up, and games with hyper-aggressive monetization.
If you see your kid is "locked in" to a game that seems like total brain rot, it might be time to suggest an upgrade. Sometimes they play the "bad" games just because they don't know the "good" ones exist.
The quickest way to make a kid resent parental controls is to set them up in secret like a digital ninja.
Try this: "Hey, I noticed we've been fighting a lot about when it's time to turn off the Xbox. I'm going to set a timer on the console so it handles the 'bad guy' part for us. That way, I'm not nagging, and you know exactly how much time you have left to finish your match."
Frame it as a tool for autonomy. "I’m setting this spending limit so you can decide how to use your $10 this month without having to ask me every time you want a new skin."
Parental controls are not a "set it and forget it" solution. They are a scaffold. Eventually, the goal is for the scaffold to come down and for your kid to have the internal discipline to put the controller down and go to sleep on their own.
But until they can do that (and let's be honest, some adults can't even do that), these tools are the best way to keep the peace and keep their bank accounts—and yours—safe.
- Download the App: If you have a Switch, download the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app right now.
- Audit the Spending: Check the purchase history on Roblox and Fortnite.
- Talk to your community: Use Screenwise to see what percentage of other parents in your grade are allowing Discord or M-rated games like Grand Theft Auto V. (Spoiler: It's probably more than you think, but that doesn't mean you have to say yes).
Ask our chatbot for a comparison of the best 'cozy' games for kids