Make Your Family’s Life Easier by Making Your Home Smarter

Smart Home technology is more than voice-activated Alexas and DVR capabilities from afar. Your smart home can keep your kids safer, streamline your family’s morning and nighttime routine, and minimize stressors parents have when they’re away from home (e.g., Did I leave the oven on? Is the back door unlocked?)

1. Self-Timed Lights Help Put the Kids to Bed

Are your kids afraid of the dark? Who can blame them? Between the Boogeyman and ghosts, there’s a lot that can lurk in the dark. If your kid’s nightlight isn’t cutting it, you’ll lose an extra 45 mins from your kid-free time at night trying to coax them into bed. And if they wake up in the middle of the night scared, that’s another hour or two lost.

So, what’s the solution? You could keep the lights on until your child falls asleep but—let’s be real—that won’t last long. Who wants to wait around for their little one to *fully* drift off to sleep.

Here’s where smart lights come in. Self-timed lights can stay on while your child is falling asleep and turn off on their own once your child’s KO’d. That way, you’re not wasting energy or waiting around to turn the lights off.

Even better? Smart lights also have dimming capabilities, so you don’t have to let the lights run on full-blast. In the mornings, you can use self-timer lights to slowly wake up your kiddos (so you don’t have to).

2. Smart Thermostats Save Money

When kids are coming home from school and have their friends over, doors are bound to be left open. Not only is this bad if you have an escape-happy pet, it’s dangerous for your electric bill too. In the dead of summer, precious cold air escapes, and in the cold of winter, the warm air heating your home will vanish.

Cutting down on your electric bill isn’t likely at the forefront of your kiddo’s mind, so instead of teaching them the art of saving energy, turn to smart thermostats.

Some smart thermostats will turn off or lower your AC and heating when they detect that a door was left open for an extended period. Plus, you can control smart thermostats to warm up your home before the family wakes up, or crank up the AC during the dog days of summer.

3. Motion Detectors Alert You about Unusual Activity

Parents can put portable motion sensors anywhere their hearts desire: medicine cabinets, liquor cabinets, pool gates, etc. Guard against crime and protect your kids from going places they’re not supposed to.

Keep your kids away from your prescriptions by getting a notification on your phone when they get near it. Or, stay alert if a motion detector goes off near your kid’s window in the middle of the night.

And if you have a four-legged friend strutting around your home, don’t worry: Smart Home sensors come with “pet immunity” features that can tell the difference between your beagle and a burglar.

4. Smart Locks Let You Lock Up from Afar

In lots of cases, children come home from school hours before parents get off work and need a way to get into the home. But it’s difficult to know what age is appropriate to give a key to your kid.

On the one hand, keys can get easily misplaced—and no one wants the key to their home sitting in a random flower bush five blocks away. On the other hand, kids can easily forget to lock the door.

Ditch the keys and get a Smart Lock. Smart Locks allow you to lock doors and windows on your phone or laptop, whether you’re sitting on your couch or at your cubicle at work. You can also enable your Smart Lock to lock automatically every time a door closes (that way, you won’t have to worry if your kiddos locked up after themselves).

Either way, Smart Locks can give parents peace of mind about the security of their home and their little ones. Plus, if you’re going out of town, use a dog walker or run a rental home, you can give guests a digital passcode to your home and allow access only during certain hours of the day.

Make Your Life Easier: Automate Your Home

Smart home technology provides parents an added level of security, plus it can help your household run a lot more smoothly. It makes waking up your kids easier and securing your home effortless.

Some Smart Homes can even control your microwave, so you won’t need to worry about running to the kitchen to defrost that chicken. Of course, you’ll need to put the bird in your microwave yourself, but if you need to watch your toddler in the tub, for instance, you can turn on your microwave and control it all from your smart device.

Plus, having a Smart Home benefits more than just you—automated homes help the environment: they use less energy, reduce fossil fuel output and cut down on water waste.