Both those features already exist on the HA companion app. You get a GPS location and can see your kids on the map card if they have HA installed and running on their phones.
All that is already built in without going through a dodgy looking third party site who charges a subscription for this service.
The HA Companion is more than enough to track my daughter’s location and much more (ie, when she’s using the phone under the blanket after bed time). The iOS built-in parental controls also suffice to restrict apps, websites and other settings as deemed appropriate.
This misses the point the OP is not just talking about single devices from one vendor.
They are taking about multiple interaction channels and devices across multiple platforms.
Xbox, Nintendo, PlayStation, TV OSs, Browser, Social Media Apps, Game Types.
Norton Family does operate to an extent across platform and device with a certain level of granularity but it’s not a silver bullet. You can consider apps such as Bark, not available in the EU but can be made to work, for more invasive Social Media monitoring.
I think, hopefully, global government pressure driven by parents will push for a common interface for technology vendors to produce an open monitoring layer for children’s digital access and safety.
However children’s / people’s rights need to be considered as we are bordering on GDPR / Rights to Privacy on the Bark end of the scale.
Is HA the right place for this? Probably not but it does have the ability to provide rule engines.
For example I have a Helper Toggle that allows me to prohibit TV access. When a TV in the house is turned on then it turns itself off after 20 seconds. Also a YouTube Toggle that switches the TVs source back to Netflix when the Toggle is set to Off.
Everything is possible but a simple solution would be wonderful.
The OP couldn’t say what apps he/she wanted monitoring. If for example, you want to monitor how long your kid has been on Xbox today, create a sensor to do that.
Rinse and repeat for every thing you want to monitor.
The rest cannot be done without this basic information.
If you just want to stop them using the internet after x hours then that is simpler.
I get what the OP is asking for. These devices or services have parental features. For instance there is Microsoft Family Safety, which will allow a parent to monitor and/or limit device time for kids. Google has an app for Android and I believe Sony has one for Playstation, etc, etc.
What OP is asking is for integrations with these different services if at all possible so that there can be sensors, switches, etc and possibly a parental feature in HA.
This does seem like a good fit as HA is supposed to be a central “hub” for other devices and services.
I would love to see this feature in H as well.
I am a parent so I am allowed to speak, and I know enough about these systems to know it cannot be done. Systems like Nintendo do not provide API’s for it. Youtube can be accessed in so many ways you cannot count. So it is indeed like the Holy Grail. Microsoft did try to span its reach to Android phones, Bitdefender does some effort to span multiple devices. But Apple too is not easy to get hooks into.
And then my kids school started using computers for school work, and any parental controls I had went out the window, because it would cut them off from doing homework. Even those that limit internet access time. So you’re down to good old oldfashioned parenting skills.
And this is coming from someone who has integrated so much I could be called Big Brother if I wanted to make use of it all.
Exactly.
Not that I have those in spades, but I try 
I use a Fritz box as router and there is a integration for ha. There is the possibility to control the internet access for the different devices registered in the Fritz box. It works well, I tried it. With this I can use a schedule helper to control the devices internet access.
I can configure this in my Fritz box gui too and I use this for my kids. It’s better than nothing but not the best way. The kids are using mobile data if they don’t have WiFi e.g. so the best is to get the devices if the time is over.
I also think it’s not possible to make an “all in one” solution because of the different platforms and API. The only thing is to lock the internet connection.
One thing I use continously is Norton Family Supervision Button and Instant Lock functionality.
Having this in HA would be good, but I’m unsure if Norton Family has an API.
Yes, I have 3 kinds, one of them is mentally disabled due due epilepsy.
II talk more with my kids than you write comments on things you have no idea about. No offence - but you absolutely do.
Parenting is a task that takes many years, and is a job you do each day besides your other chores, like a 50h job, home-chores, homework with kids, repairing everything all the time, playing with kids (if there is time), driving the to and from sport etc.
But even if you “talk to your kids” - that does not always have the predicible result you think it might have.
I do not descide that.
But as a parent I am the one desiding on penalties on breaking the rules we have set-together. One of these penalties could be “no Gaming” - or no ditigal media for some time alltogether.
Well, it’s really really hard to juggle a family and everything else you have to do - time wise.
More often than I’d like I still have to work at night.
More often than I’d like I have to do some private paperwork keeping me from watching kids in a cadence I’d like.
Or other chores (washing, cleaning, repairing etc.).
My house if full of tech-gadets (that is my last and only hobby besides jogging each day). We have alexas in every corner, smart-kiosk screens, every light and shade works through voice commands, as well as starting the dishwasher, the vacuum or the extractor hood. My washing mashine starts when the PV systems produces enough exess power, and tells me when it’s finished.
I am a tech nerd - and my kinds grow up with tech (it’s my fault).
Thus I use Home Assistant massively (that’s why I am in this forum).
Now - Home Assistant is not the only solution I use to parent my kids.
(You seem to think that)
But it would be a timesaver for me, one more tool to reign in the beehive I am living in (not always - but sometimes).
I am a prgrammer - but also a Projekt-manager - thus I absolutely know, that not every problem can be solved by Tech - Tech is a suplement - and addition to a set of solutions.
Could you please let me know what exactly is to be done to “Get a grip of the situation”?
Again - from what you have written in your “essay”, it’s obvious you have only experienced parenting from the child’s perspective.
Please also know - that raising one one child, two, three and then more can also be vastly different in the “effort and stress level” for parent - so not every parental situation is similar (there are VAST differences).
But I KNOW you cannot relate.
I appreciate your feedback - but would like to object, and again ask for a solution in home assistant to help with a “one digital media time account” solution, which would greatly help me to manage the different accouts (*3 kids) I have to manage, and to be able to set one timesplan for a day (in COLLABORAITON and AGREEMENT with MY KIDS) across all devices.
Just saw this, might be relevant to topic ;
I love it when people suggest you have an ‘honest conversation with your kids’, or similar 
. Kids are deceitful, conniving, lying little scumbags that will will try and get around rules that restrict what they want (not need!), and each child will have a different tactic! They obviously have their endearing and lovely sides, but this is the reality of the challenge as far as being a parent and tech is concerned. You’re also faced with having to bat-off the outside influences from their peers, etc.
I’ve only just started looking into more advanced HA options to bring together various services and there has been some work done over the last few years by some others.
The stand alone services I use for our kids for screen time, app access control, screen scheduling and location are:
Qustodio - my main go to. This works across Windows, Apple and Android. If they were to do an api for this, it would be very powerful within HA. It does have its issues in that (somehow!) the kids can work around some controls.
PS app
MS Family Safety
Android Family Link
Home Assistant - controls when the TV is available (eg. NOT at 5am … even if they take the remote from another TV because a parent has hidden the main remote to stop them watching TV before 8am, despite having had the ‘honest and open conversation’ ).
Controlling router access is not a solution due to mobile data, and you can’t control specific apps.
Nintendo may not have when this comment was made, but the current Nintendo integration allows for it. I use it to add time when requested or as a kill switch if needed as well.
OP has a good idea. It’s one I’ve not looked for HA to solve until recently, but I’ve looked for a platform that could do this for years and as far as I can find, there’s still nothing available.
The requests to “just parent” can easily met with us just asking everyone to flip their own light switches and just drop HA altogether. It’s a silly response when we’re on a board full of automation enthusiasts.
So one problem less: You now know your kid spent all their time on Nintendo. But how do you block them on iPad for instance? Or stop them from using Youtube on a smart TV? I’m not saying it isn’t a great idea, it is. It is just not a very realistic one. It is easier for your kid to find a screen than it is for you to measure it and block it from HA. So don’t hold your breath.
I use eero routers and you can add devices to user profiles and schedule internet pauses in the eero app. The HA integration brings the different profiles in and has a “block” toggle.
Obviously not a complete fix as they could still access downloaded games but then I use the HA switch parental controls integration and ios screen time settings to cover those.
Would be great if the ios stuff could be brought into HA somehow so it could all be controlled together but from the little I looked into it, it seemed complicated. Maybe someone smarter than me will figure it out!
For me its a pfsense router. Then make firewall rules with all the kids devices in Alias’s.
then in home assistant you link up your pfsense, then make buttons for the firewall rules
HA Cards:
pfsense:
pfsense schedules:
pfsense rules:
HA pfsense:
YAML Markdown helper
type: vertical-stack
cards:
- type: markdown
content: >-
<ha-alert alert-type="error">Time Out or Grounded:
<ha-icon icon="mdi:home-clock-outline"></ha-icon> = **OFF** | <ha-icon
icon="mdi:shield-remove-outline"></ha-icon> = **ON**</ha-alert>
-
<ha-alert alert-type="warning">Reward, Sickdays or Holiday:
<ha-icon icon="mdi:home-clock-outline"></ha-icon> = **OFF** | <ha-icon
icon="mdi:shield-remove-outline"></ha-icon> = **OFF**</ha-alert>
-
<ha-alert alert-type="success">Normal
<ha-icon icon="mdi:home-clock-outline"></ha-icon> = **ON** | <ha-icon
icon="mdi:shield-remove-outline"></ha-icon> = **ON**</ha-alert>
-
Buttons
type: vertical-stack
cards:
- show_name: true
show_icon: true
type: button
tap_action:
action: toggle
entity: switch.pfsense_filter_rule_1666383671
show_state: true
name: Elly's Devices (Schedule)
icon_height: 50px
icon: mdi:home-clock-outline
theme: Fluent Red
grid_options:
columns: 6
rows: auto
Nice work! Thank you for the useful contribution.
TLDR for anyone skimming the thread:
Overall the fact that multiple platforms exist for a common concept would suggest that the Home Assistant way to support OPs request in a built-in way would be similar to how TODO lists are integrated. Home Assistant sits in a great position to provide a generic interface and stuff like association with user accounts, tied to concrete service implementations such as the ones above.
It’s a great exchange of ideas. Not everything is super straightforward but it does seem like there are ways to get there.
Next up: tie in the newly released Kids Chores platform!