5 FAQ's On A Wireless Smart Home

It’s hard to keep everything organised and under control during the daily routine, especially if you have children. That’s why it’s very important for parents to realise that there’s a whole side of home automation technology which parents can take advantage of and turn it into a solution.

There’s an old saying that goes: Children are the future. Well, if they are the future then it makes total sense to take advantage of futuristic technology to raise them. 

It is true that technology always comes with a bad reputation for its impact on children, but when used with moderation and in an intelligent manner it can be a strong ally with numerous advantages that truly beat its possible drawbacks.

Here’s how you can harness this fantastic technology in order to make your role as parents easier without reducing your children’s safety.

Smart Lighting Keeps Children Safe

Usually, when a family starts a home automation project, it begins with lighting. This is one of the first things that gets automated, mainly because it's more affordable and the installation process is friendlier towards users.

Now, if you’re planning on going the extra mile and go beyond a simple smart bulb, you need to invest in smart lighting that guarantees that your children will have a clear pathway to the bathroom at night. This means that you should shop around for hub and motion sensors.

The good thing is that home automation is so well established that you can acquire devices from different brands and mix them together so they can work as a team in your favour.

Right now one of the best options in the smart lighting market is Loxone. They offer smart lighting solutions with a broad range of integration and connectivity with other smart devices. Parents are highly likely to find in Loxone a customised solution for their lighting needs.

You need to find a brand you can rely on that has the ability to seamlessly connect with other smart devices regardless of their brand. In fact, Loxone is great way to start a smart lighting transition. 

The Loxone experience offers a great response when dealing with third-party support, moreover, their smart motion sensors are some of the best you can find in the market as they are very user friendly.

Once you've made up your mind and found a good lighting kit that suits your needs, you need to install it down the corridor from your children’s room all the way to the bathroom. After that, you must attach motion sensors to the bedroom doors. 

Be careful of dimming because you don’t want a bright light over stimulating your children. Since you can set times for the lights to turn off automatically, you can set it up in a way that after approximately fifteen minutes, they turn off, that way, you won't be wasting any electricity.

Following this guidance will allow parents to overcome two important issues: the fear that some children feel when they have to go outside of their bedroom at night and making sure that they don’t stumble in the middle of the night risking their safety.

For the Morning Routine

If getting ready every day in the morning is already tough, imagine how time-consuming and stressful it may be in a house full of little ones. Most people don’t know it but smart home technology truly offers a helping hand for parents struggling with morning routines.

Lighting is also a good help here as you can program smart lighting to gradually come on in the morning helping your children to achieve a smooth transition to wake up. You can add their favourite song or melody so they start the day with a great attitude.

Smart thermostats are a great tool to keep everyone satisfied with the temperature. Smart thermostat companies, like Nest, have smart heating/cooling solutions that are intelligent enough to learn from user patterns and will act every day according to them. 

This is a helpful tool to have everyone in the house happy while saving money on electricity bills. 

A smart coffee maker will make the perfect addition to your morning routine and if you don’t have one, all you need is a smart plug and a regular coffee maker. You can rest assured that there will be coffee ready after your smart home turns the lights on, adjusts the temperature and prepares everything so you and your children can have a lovely morning routine.

Your morning routine now seems enhanced and perfectioned, you’re only missing voice control capabilities. 

You can use Google’s Assistant or any other preferred voice assistant to give you in-depth weather and news reports as you head out to take the little ones to school, this is definitely the most relaxing and comfortable way to start your day.

What About Bedtime

Parents can take advantage of this technology also during nighttime. If you have children you know all the preludes and preparations necessary for bedtime, you can make them hassle-free and less time-consuming.

You can program lighting for bedtime too, make sure that the light dims at an appropriate time in the children’s bedroom, just as efficiently as it does in the morning.

Having trouble brushing your children’s teeth? Well, smart home technology is innovative enough to have a smart toothbrush that can turn this rather difficult task into lots of fun while taking care of their dental hygiene.

This wonderful device uses interactive games to turn the daily routine of brushing teeth into a fun one. They can keep track and score so it's like a fun challenge for the little ones.

Smart home technology is also helpful to program TVs and video game consoles to prevent children from staying up all night playing. You can also make sure that the lights go off at a particular time so they can start their night sleep while you enjoy other activities around the house.

Technology is yet to replace tucking in and bedtime stories which are a good thing, you can have an automated ally for the boring parts of the morning/bedtime routine while still enjoying quality time with your children.

Making the Entry Systems Around the House Easier with Smart Locks

Smart locks come in many different shapes, sizes, and configurations. Oddly enough it is comfort and convenience that makes this smart solution so popular, not security. When people decide to smarten up their entry system they simplify their day-to-day living in many ways.

The market offers smart locks that work with keypads, they’re secure, reliable and it's a great opportunity to teach children the importance of remembering codes. Those lessons may come in handy in this new world full of PINs and passcodes, plus making sure they never get locked out again.

If you have younger children - who are more likely to lose keys or leave them at school - you can definitely rely on this technology to overcome this rather crucial issue.

Smart locks are great tools and they are smart enough to send you notifications to let you know that your children are safe and sound at home, they will also make sure that doors and windows are locked after they enter the house.

Remember that in addition to keypad smart locks, there are also smart locks that work with hubs, touchscreen, voice control or from a mobile app. 

In reality, there’s no right or wrong about lock automation just make sure you browse for the one that best suits your house requirements.

Video Doorbells: a Smart Vigilante

Do your children spend time alone at home when you are still working? If that’s the case we can only imagine how many conversations you’ve had with them about never open the door to strangers.

Well, those days can be a thing from the past with a smart video doorbell. These devices allow users to take care of visitors by themselves as they can answer the door from afar, making sure you deal with visitors without your children knowing.

Now, imagine a scenario with teenagers at home and you’re about to go out with your partner. Do you have any concerns if they decide to invite their friends over and initiate a party out of the blue?

Video doorbells will act just as if you were there, your smartphone will be the perfect bridge between your house and you. By staying connected to your home through your mobile, you can definitely enjoy your nights out knowing that everything is safeguarded by your automated ally.

In addition to all the benefits you get from this technology as parents, it is very helpful for the day-to-day living. You’ll never miss a package again even if you’re still at work.

Security Systems for the Whole Family

You can implement security cameras indoors and outdoors and take the security around your house to the next level. Do not underestimate the importance of keeping your house and everyone inside safe, so all precautions you take to accomplish this, are valid.

A good way to enhance security around the outside of your house can be motion-activated security lights. This is one of the biggest burglar deterrents ever. No burglar would stay after having a bright spotlight and siren pointed at them.

Smart home technology giant Ring offers spotlights and floodlights which are affordable and will truly enhance security around the perimeter of your residence.

A full home security system may be pricey but that should not stop people from making their houses safer. If you have a rather small budget you may try putting signs that let people know your house is fully protected, even if it’s not.

The best practice here is not leaving anything to chance and never assume that burglar attacks and break-ins are not something that can happen to you.

Add Smart Technology to Your Medicine Cabinet

If you have small children you know how it is dealing with their curiosity, especially when you tell them not to do something.

Having medication or cleaning products lying around the house is a major risk, so investing in keeping the house safe should not present a problem because you never know how far their curiosity will take them.

A locked cabinet may sound like a good solution, but if you think about it, this will only make them more curious and they may start looking for ways to get a key.

You can add smart sensors to any cabinet, that way if anything gets compromised you’ll receive a mobile app alert almost immediately, these work with cupboards as well. 

Since we’re dealing with toxic and potentially dangerous chemicals, it may be a good idea to invest in something that can literally save you children’s lives.

Using Geofencing to Set Boundaries

We know that this is a term that not everyone is supposed to be familiar with, but it is definitely one of the best ways to teach children about the importance of setting boundaries and limits.

Geofencing or GPS can help you create virtual boundaries and you’ll get mobile alerts when someone enters or leaves the designated area. These GPS trackers can be very helpful for instance, if you’re at the mall and your child gets lost - we really hope it never happens -  you can use a GPS tracker to make sure that everything is under control.

Teaching your children how to care for the environment with energy conservation.

If you have children who are becoming more and more concerned about the environment and are proactively showing an interest in preserving it and taking good care of our planet, you can make use of smart tech to help them become more engaged with the topic.

Many smart devices can provide readings on how much energy  smart devices are using in the house. If you make them part of the process and you encourage them to understand those readings, they can be more aware of the environment and try to use less water or to keep appliances off when they’re not being used. 

Now, if you have a fully automated house and you don't have the need to tell your children to turn the lights off once they leave a room, you can still use this technology to teach them valuable lessons about energy consumption and the positive impact those actions have towards the preservation of the environment.

Smart Baby Monitors

We all know those baby monitors are a must, so a smart baby monitor will definitely enhance its functionality. There are some pretty cutting-edge devices in this field.

A smart baby monitor can give you a full HD night vision and can even have a breathing monitor. You can hear and see your baby with great picture quality,  plus they come with built-in apps so you can talk to your baby from afar.

This is a market that can offer too many solutions, so it can be overwhelming for inexperienced parents, make sure that you shop around to find the perfect solution that suits your particular needs.

Voice Control for Kids

You can introduce this technology to your kids through the use of smart speakers. Amazon’s Alexa is included in their Echo speakers and it’s a great way to show your children how to work a digital assistant.

Now, having access to this type of technology without guidance can be potentially dangerous, that’s why Amazon released the Echo Dot Kids Edition, which will restrain all adult or violent content or anything that you consider not suitable for children.

This is by far a great option to prevent them from accessing material they’re not supposed to be seeing.

Smart Home Theatres: Technology for the entire household

A great way to bring the whole family together is with a smart home theatre. While security and comfort are the main reasons why people choose automated technology for their houses, it is good not to overlook smart technology for entertainment as well.

You can choose from smart projector screens to voice-activated smart TVs, imagination is the limit when it comes to smart home entertainment.

What’s Next

After this complete guide and overview of the benefits of smart home technology when parenting, the obvious question is: What about the smart house of the future? What’s in store for this technology?

Robot technology is moving forward real quick and thinking about some robotic assistance when conducting regular household tasks is not a crazy thought anymore.

The Aido Robot is a robot that can help you with mundane tasks around the house but can also help you entertain your kids. As you can see the future is upon us, we just need to embrace it the right way.

Remember that if you have any further questions regarding smart home technology, and how to start a new home automation project for your house, then feel free to contact the smart home experts who can guide you through this amazing journey.