How Smart Technology Can Help School Kids

With the new school term looming large, an article in the SF Times.com has highlighted how smart technology can help remove part of the stress of this time of year. Many parents have concerns about the start of a new school term, especially if a child needs to be left alone for any part of the day.

The article points out that using smart technology can help parents keep an eye on their children when they aren’t physically there, helping to simplify daily routines while minimizing stress. They suggest starting with a home hub that allows smart devices such as thermostats, lighting, and locks to communicate with each other and which can send notifications to a smartphone, allowing parents to monitor their property and to control it remotely.

These connected devices can be synchronized to perform a series of actions helping to smooth each school day, for example turning lights on and playing music, or sending a spoken message to kids to wake them up. Heating and cooling is a major bill for most householders and a smart thermostat allows parents to control the temperature remotely without worries that their child will turn the heating or air up.

Using a voice-controlled assistant can help keep children entertained once homework and chores are complete, before gradually lowering the temperature, dimming the lights, locking the doors and arming the security system. Smart locks can be particularly helpful, allowing children to access their home without the need for keys, while the home can alert homeowners if a door is left open once everybody has left. It can also send notifications when children have arrived home safely. Some security systems even provide video clips and will send a security alert when someone enters or exits the building or can send notifications if a window or door is opened.

The article highlights the fact that smart home technology doesn’t have to be expensive and that it’s possible to start with just a home hub and a couple of devices, adding more as they are needed. It does, however, point out the need to make sure each device can talk to each other.