In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re taking a look at a few family-friendly add-ons. I don’t have any kids, but recently witnessed the tremendous protective instinct that comes with parenting. First there was the mother raccoon who had babies (“kits”) in our living room wall. Boy was she crazed when we took them out. Despite all the construction to repair her damage to our wall, she came back to save each and every baby from their temporary home in our strawberry planter, and we didn’t stand in her way.

In the second instance, my good friend came over to housesit with her 15-month old: “We have to barricade this stairwell, it’s a death trap!” And she was right; it’s now blocked with huge boxes of old computer parts.

So, I get it. Having kids means policing of everything, including the web. Thank goodness for the add-ons that do just that.

It’s been a while since I got to know an add-on with no previous context, and I was really pleased with how easy KidZui was to install and use. They walk you through everything—and nice screen-capture videos show you how to use features.

After installing, here’s what the first step looks like:

Then you get a note to activate your account, with a nice message: “…KidZui complies with COPPA, the children’s privacy protection act…” KidZui access shows up in your browser as a giant “K”:

You’ll have created two accounts, one for the parent and one for the child. The passwords are different, and parents can edit the children’s account, including passwords and birthdays. Plus, you can monitor your children’s friends (and remove them, if necessary), activity and interests. Here’s an example of what a parent can see:

KidZui does great job of interpreting the web for a kid, organizing things under topics like “homework helper”, “animals” and “new music”. Here’s an example of what your kid can see if she’s into cats:

Check it out, see what your kids think and have a Happy Mother’s Day!

Post from Elise Allen, who recommends wearing a motorcycle jacket or other protective gear if you're bottle-feeding a baby raccoon. See all posts by Elise Allen.