How Smart Home Monitoring Can Ease Back to School Worries

One thing we know for certain this fall is that nothing’s for certain. Parents are facing new and intense pressures as children adapt to virtual learning schedules and an ever-changing household dynamic. Boundaries and roles are becoming increasingly blurred, leaving many Moms and Dads wondering how they can manage everything happening at home.

Yet despite the ups and downs of uncertainty, some parents are finding increased peace of mind with a little help from smart home technology, no matter how or when their kids are “going back” to school.

Of course, there’s no substitute for a dedicated math tutor or a patient preschool teacher, however, research by Karen Fingerman, a professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas, suggests that technology has actually brought families closer to one another. She has identified that parents today have become less autocratic than their predecessors, and they have more frequent contact with their children because of communications technology.*

Make your home work for you

If technology can be used to bring families closer together, the next step is for parents to choose the right smart home devices for their households. The ecobee Home Security Bundle allows Moms and Dads to take advantage of a meaningful home monitoring solution they can rely on to start the school year with confidence. With innovative devices and services from ecobee, everyday questions and concerns can be answered instantly, right in the palm of their hand using the ecobee mobile app.

Here’s how the Home Security Starter Kit might make your busy day a little more manageable.

“Is he having friends over when he shouldn’t be?”

Place SmartSensor for doors and windows in important spaces, like the front door or the backyard entrance. Check in from the ecobee app to ensure the entryway hasn’t changed from an open or closed state, and use SmartCamera to get the whole picture.

“They seem too quiet upstairs. Are they studying or playing video games?”

SmartCamera with voice control delivers 1080p HD video with an expansive 180° field of view to give you a complete view of what they’re up to right from your smartphone.

“Did the kids make it home safely from school?”

Maximize your ecobee experience with ecobee Smart Security, a smart home monitoring subscription starting at $5/month USD. With a subscription, your home will automatically arm when the kids leave for school in the morning and disarm when they arrive back home. You’ll also receive a notification when this happens, so you can rest assured that the kids left on-time and made it home when you expect them to.

“How can I be in multiple places at once?”

If you’re juggling working from home while your child is in virtual learning classes, the Bundle might be the answer to your everyday challenges. Although our team of experts haven’t quite figured out the trick to putting eyes in the back of your head, you can at least trust that installing a DIY home monitoring system in your smart house is a meaningful way to maintain a heightened sense of control in the “new normal.”

* Psychology Today (July/August 2020 issue, They Can Go Home Again by Susan Newman, PH. D. p. 51)