Firefox is the browser equivalent of teaching your kid to look both ways before crossing the street—it won't prevent them from wandering into traffic, but it gives them better tools to navigate safely.

The privacy features are genuinely excellent and increasingly important as kids grow up in a surveillance economy. Automatic tracker blocking, no built-in ads, and a nonprofit mission make Firefox a solid choice for families who care about digital wellness. But here's the catch: Firefox protects your data, not your eyeballs. It won't stop your 8-year-old from stumbling onto something age-inappropriate, and it won't filter YouTube or block sketchy sites without additional tools.

Think of Firefox as one layer in your family's digital safety strategy—pair it with device-level parental controls, have ongoing conversations about online safety, and maybe use it as a teaching moment about how the internet actually works. For teens especially, Firefox can be part of building digital literacy and healthy habits around privacy.

Bottom line: Great browser, lousy babysitter. Use it with eyes open.