Having worked with many home-educating and homeschooling parents in the UK to help turn around how their neurodivergent children perceive and experience Maths, I know you’re always looking for innovative ways to help your young genius learn and grow! And Roblox has been a fab way of achieving this. However, I often hear parents ask questions like: Should I still be letting my kid play Roblox outside of your Classes? Is Roblox safe for my child? How do I make sure Roblox is safe for my kid? How do we safely use Roblox for Maths? Well, I believe that ensuring your child’s safety on Roblox is crucial for a positive learning experience. So in this Roblox safety guide for parents, we’ll discuss various Roblox safety features and provide the actionable tips I always give parents to help keep their children safe while enjoying our Roblox games. You know, safety first and all that jazz.

Understand Roblox Safety Features

Roblox has implemented several safety features over the years to help protect its users, particularly younger players. By default, accounts registered for children under 13 have strict privacy settings, including restricted chat functionality, limited access to specific games, and strict content filtering. However, I know many students lie about their age when initially making their account, and you may be surprised to find that your child is already an adult as far as Roblox knows. So you may wish to go in and check whether this is the case, and edit the settings yourself, as they have a lot of flexibility, which I’ll go into later. 

As a parent, familiarise yourself with these settings and ensure they are enabled on your child’s account. Furthermore, you’ll want to create your own pin for the account, so your kids can’t change these settings after you’re happy with them. I always advise taking advantage of these safety features to create a secure learning environment for your Robloxian and to ensure that Roblox is safe for your child – better safe than sorry!

Create a Strong, Unique Password

Growing up through the advent of the internet, having strong passwords just wasn’t something we were told about as kids. I remember when my Runescape account got hacked as a kid – my password was quite literally ‘password’. Well, twenty years later, I know better than that – but your children likely don’t!

Creating strong, unique passwords applies to their entire online life, not just Roblox! I always encourage students and parents alike to create a strong, unique password that includes a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Also, remind them not to share their password with anyone, even friends. This step is crucial to protect your child’s privacy while they participate in BrainySpinach Maths Classes and adventures on Roblox. After all, you wouldn’t want anyone sneaking into their account like a digital ninja.

Tips from BrainySpinach: consider using a password manager to help your young Roblox Explorer remember the password. There are many free ones available – I use the Google one myself. I don’t know what I’d do without mine nowadays – I just checked, and I have over 200 passwords saved to it!

Enable Two-Step Verification

Two-step verification is an additional layer of security in terms of Roblox safety and security for parents. It requires users to enter a code sent to their email or mobile device when logging in from a new device. To enable two-step verification, visit your child’s account settings and follow the on-screen instructions.

Enabling this feature is an incredibly strong extra layer of protection to your child’s account while they play The Math Obby and other Roblox games. Think of it as a digital bouncer keeping intruders out, but one the intruder can’t even speak to without your permission.

Set Up Parental Control: Parent PIN & Age Restrictions

Parental Control enables you to choose the correct settings that will put your mind at ease when your Robloxians are busy exploring their favourite platform.

You can enable a Parent PIN to be the only person who can change the age restrictions of the games your child will be able to play on Roblox.

BrainySpinach Maths highly recommends choosing suitable age restrictions as Roblox has introduced 17+ games with more mature language, humour and violence.

Teach Your Child About Safe Online Behavior

There’s no getting around this nowadays – it’s essential to educate your kids about safe online practices, including:

• Not sharing personal information (full name, address, phone number, etc.) with anyone online
• Not accepting friend requests or engaging in private chats with strangers, including making any virtual boyfriends or girlfriends
• Reporting inappropriate behaviour or content to Roblox moderators
• Teach them the adage, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is”, and how that applies to real Roblox examples – such as on the game Adopt Me, if someone were to offer them an extremely rare pet in Adopt Me for almost nothing in return, they are probably going to get tricked one way or another. It’s time to stop talking to them and block them!
• Teach them that if someone you’re playing with starts to become angry with you, and begins messaging you mean and angry things – it doesn’t matter what they say, just don’t respond, let a responsible adult know, and block them! Then you won’t have to worry about them anymore. A lesson we could all learn.

BrainySpinach Maths also emphasises the importance of online safety during live tuition sessions and often goes into great detail about how not to get scammed in many of the more popular games where you can trade pets and other items – because nobody wants a virtual scam artist running off with their prized pixelated possessions.

Explore Roblox Together

There’s nothing more fun than sharing a bonding experience of exploring something new together. You can always ask your Roblox Explorer to show what games they have been playing, what players they have encountered and what they have learnt on the platform. If you are up for a challenge, you could play together with your kid to double the fun – find new interesting age-appropriate games to add to your safe list. It’s a great way of getting to grips with this world your child immerses themselves in – there is so, so much worth knowing about Roblox, and there’s no better way of learning it than playing!

Monitor Your Child’s Activity

This pretty much comes hand-in-hand with the previous section, as you can’t do this effectively without really knowing how Roblox works. Regularly check your child’s Roblox activity, including their friends’ list, messages, and the games they’re playing. It’s particularly important when they’re participating in BrainySpinach Maths Classes as it allows you to track their progress and ensure they’re engaged in a safe learning environment. If you notice any suspicious behaviour or inappropriate content, report it to Roblox and BrainySpinach Maths immediately. Keep an eye on their digital playground, just like you would in the real world.

Check Your Child’s Chat History

If you have this option enabled for your child to be able to make friends on Roblox, you can also regularly check the history of their in-game interactions to make sure nothing inappropriate was said to them.

To do so open the chat window in the right lower corner of your screen when on a desktop computer to choose a friend and to read through their conversations.

If you are on a mobile – choose a friend from the Home or Friends menu to go to their profile and open the chat through the “chat” button.

To read through chats in the Roblox app, choose the fourth icon in the main menu on the left.

Monitor Voice Chat if Enabled

If you decide to enable the voice chat option for your Robloxians – monitor their conversations by having them play in communal spaces in your home such as your living room or your kitchen. If any negativity occurs you can immediately address it and work through it with your child. 

Tips from BrainySpinach: Restrict headphone use. With a “no headphones on Roblox” rule, you’ll know if your child is exposed to unsavoury conversations, abusive language, or racial slurs.

Tips from BrainySpinach: In the privacy settings of the account, you can set the visibility of your Robloxian’s inventory for no one to see so that nobody will get interested in the items your child might have.

Customise Privacy and Security Settings

Take advantage of Roblox’s privacy settings to further protect your child. You can adjust settings like:

• Who can message your child
• Who can chat with your child in-game
• Who can invite your child to private servers
• Who can follow your child on the platform

Visit your child’s account settings to review and modify these privacy options. Customising these settings will give you peace of mind while your child enjoys BrainySpinach Maths games and other Roblox experiences. It’s like being a digital superhero, keeping your child’s virtual world safe and sound.

Build a List Of Safe Games

If you don’t know where to start – check out the Learn & Explore selection curated by Roblox or the Top 5 Best Maths Games on Roblox recommended by BrainySpinach Maths. Pay attention to the age recommendations of each game and choose the ones you find appropriate for your child. The games we could recommend starting with are: Build a Boat for Treasure, Expedition Antarctica, and the grandad of cool Roblox Maths games, ‘Math Obby’. How do you block inappropriate games on Roblox? Enable account restrictions in the account settings of your Roblox Explorer to ensure your peace of mind. Again, add a security pin if you want to be the only one who can alter the settings.

Set Time Limits For Gaming

Roblox is designed to keep its players engaged and immersed and children will absolutely play through the day if given a chance. However, like every human, big or small, they need balance in their routines which includes off-screen activities for their development and overall well-being.

Excessive gaming might disrupt sleep patterns, and worsen anxiety and mood fluctuations. 

Set up a family plan for screen time and gaming rules. You can visualise it any way you find suitable as well! Make sure to set your children’s expectations so they know and understand what happens, when and why when it comes to online gaming. 

Tips from BrainySpinach: To set a time limit you can use any available to you timers including one on your mobile phone or you could use a dedicated App for that purpose.

Tips from BrainySpinach: Encourage time away from digital entertainment. You can help your Robloxians develop healthier lifestyles with regular screen breaks. Reward them with positive affirmations about their off-screen hobbies and encourage them to spend more time on those activities – be it art, music or sports. Personally, I enjoy walking Neo (my dog), going for a swim, or reading the latest sci-fi book!

Stay Safe Online With a VPN

In November 2022, 2 malicious extensions were discovered in the Chrome Web Store – “SearchBlox” and were downloaded more than 200.000 times. They were designed to steal Roblox users’ credentials as well as their digital assets through a backdoor.

In August 2023, two additional malicious extensions, each equipped with concealed backdoors, were identified and subsequently removed from the Chrome Web Store.

Make sure to use a VPN on all devices. When your children interact with strangers online, a VPN conceals the IP address and location of the devices they’re using (their phones, tablets, or the family computer). This added layer of encryption plays a crucial role in enhancing the safety of your kids while they enjoy their fun and educational adventures on Roblox.

In conclusion, is Roblox safe for children? Roblox can be an excellent platform for neurodivergent children to learn and have fun, particularly through our innovative Classes. As a homeschooling/ home-educating parent in the UK, it’s essential to be proactive about your child’s online safety on Roblox and beyond, especially as they’ll have far more opportunities to play on the platform compared to your average school goer. Familiarising yourself with Roblox’s safety features, teaching your child responsible online behaviour, monitoring their activities, and customising privacy settings will ensure a safe and enjoyable experience. By taking these precautions, you can support your child’s learning journey with BrainySpinach Maths and help them develop essential skills for a successful future in STEM fields. Remember, being vigilant is key – just like that time you child-proofed every corner of the house.

Stay safe out there!