Children grow up quickly, and they’re old enough to stay home alone after school before you know it.

It’s one of the first steps towards gaining independence for your child, and you don’t have to worry about leaving work early or paying a babysitter to look after your kids when they come home.

When this major step first happens, it’s natural to worry about your kids. Will they be safe on their own? What if their keys are lost? Can they be trusted not to end up having friends for hours?

Safety at Smart Home can dissolve these concerns for you. Allied’s security system is the perfect solution for peace of mind with access control and a discreet connection to your home. Here’s how that can help.

No more to lose keys

It’s no secret that children can be careless. I’m sure most of us, while we were young and carefree, misplaced something very important. Losing keys can be a problem, however, especially if it means you leave early work to let the kids in. It’s an inconvenience and it’s even worse if you need to get back to work and complete urgent tasks before heading back home.

Smart locks eliminate key requirements. You can create a unique four-digit code through the app so you know if your child got home all right and when they got home. You can also set different rules when your loved one returns, such as disarming the system so that they don’t set off.

2. Get warnings when you go home

Knowing when your child has come home gives you peace of mind so you can focus on your job and don’t have to worry about endless hours. Set custom alerts through the app so that when your child has entered their code you will receive a notification.

As time goes on and confidence builds, you can switch this alert to a no-show alert to notify you if they don’t go home on time.

3. Know who’s knocking the doorbell?

It’s common at your door to worry about strangers. You get a first view of who is outside your house with a video doorbell. Be the first to respond through the intercom feature to the door and see who’s on your phone through live feed. This means that your children won’t have to answer any strangers at the door.

4. Keep them out of prohibited areas;

Your children may not have allowed friends after school because they need to concentrate on homework. You can see exactly what friends are over with indoor and outdoor video monitoring solutions, and if they do homework or get up to mischief.

You can also place contact sensors in prohibited rooms or cabinets so that your children don’t get up to anything they really ought to have.

5. It’s reassuring for you both

It was probably one of the best feelings to be left at home alone for the first time as a young teen. It’s liberating and you feel trusted and independent, but it can also feel a little unsettling – especially at the beginning.

Knowing you’re still connected to what’s going on at home can make your kids feel safer and make you feel comfortable knowing your kids are all right.