How to set up Xbox One for your Child

Xbox One in a family is shared by almost everybody. Either to play a game or watch movies, or a family skype call. It becomes almost impossible to say no to kids, especially after an age, and this is where things get tricky. Thankfully, Microsoft core products, like Windows 10 and Xbox have strong Family integration which lets you live peacefully when your kids use your Xbox.

In this post, I am going into a lot of details on how you can set up Xbox One for your child. Call it as a Parent's Guide for Xbox One! That said, I am assuming your account is already setup on Xbox One, and all you want to do is set up a Child's Account.

Set up your Accounts with Microsoft Account Family Center

You will need a Microsoft Account for all your family members, including your kid to make use of this feature. I am assuming since you have an Xbox One, you already have a Microsoft Account.

Visit Family Center by following this link, and Sign-in. Make sure you use the same account on Xbox One later.

Once you are here, look for the link which says Add a family member. Click to open.

Here you can select between child or adult. Select Add a Child.

You will see that it asks for a phone number or email id. In case your kid doesn't have an email ID, you can create one by following this link. This is the same link that appears in that prompt.

Once you create the email ID, come back here, and add to Invite him.

You will have to open your child's email account and confirm it.

Here you can set up preferences, monitor what he or she is browsing on the internet, set up screentime, and for Apps, games, and Media - tailor what age rated content your child has access to. You also have the option to add money to your Kids account under Purchasing and Spending - however, I will suggest not to give money to your kid, and buy on your own.

Create an Xbox Profile for your Child

Now that your kid's account is set up, the same can be used to sign-in to the Xbox One. Just like you, your kid will also get a gamer tag, and I will suggest you leave it up to him on how he wants to name it.  Later on, if he feels, he can change it to something else.

Press the Xbox Button on your controller, and open the Guide Menu.

Navigate to the extreme right. This is System's section which will have Settings. Press “A” to open Settings.

Find Family under Account section.  Select it.

Select Add New.

Then sign in-in with your child's Microsoft Account, and password.

After this, you will have to sign-in again with parents, i.e., your Microsoft account to confirm.

Two more things will be asked next.

1. First, how he will sign-in. You can keep it simple, and select “No Barriers”.
2. Second, If you have a controller for your child, you can link the controller, else use Instant Sign-in. You might be offered a gold subscription; Skip if you want to.

Once this basic setup is complete, Microsoft applies all security settings for your kid's account.

It's actually the same which you see in the Family Center. You can manage his Privacy & safety, Access to content, and Web Filtering option from the console. Anything more than this, you will have to get online.

In case your kid was smart enough to create an Xbox Profile by visiting Xbox Live, and want you to add him to Xbox One. The screenshot below will look familiar. Choose to Add him to this Xbox.

Set up Gamerpic & Basic Settings for your Kid

The next obvious step is to sit with your kid and set up few things for him. If you know everything about Xbox One, you can give him a tour of what is where, and how he can play games, and so on.

Xbox One now supports uploading a profile pic. You can copy it from your computer to a USB drive, and then pick it up from there, and upload.

When it comes to gamertag, I suggested to leave it to the randomly generated gamertag. Microsoft allows you to change gamertag once for free. Post one change, you will have to pay 10$. However, if you and your kid are pretty sure about it, you can set up the first one.

Follow the steps below:

• Open the Guide by pressing the button on the controller.
• Navigate to the extreme left, and select his gamer tag, and then My profile,
• In this new screen, navigate to Customise profile, and select it.
• Select your kids randomly generated gamertag, and you will get a prompt to change it.

• Next, I suggest you do the following things:
  • Customize Dashboard with his favorite color, and wallpaper.
  • Download games for him. He will share the games you have based on his gaming restrictions.
  • Pin the game tiles on his home screen.
  • Teach a few tricks about Xbox One to him!

Lastly, Setup Xbox One-screen Time limits

The beauty of Microsoft Family feature is about deciding when your child can use your Windows 10 PC or the Xbox One console. You can setup time he can play on Xbox One for every day and for a particular time period. If he tries to play off the timing, he will need parents permission.

• Go to Microsoft Family Account.
• Open your child's account by clicking on Activity History.
• Switch to Screen Time.
• Turn on Xbox screen time limits
• Select the timing for every day, and you will be all set.

When a kid is about to reach his time limit, he will get a notification about it. Post the time limit; he will be locked out of his account unless permission is granted.

And this concludes your guide here. There are lot many things that I can write, but this is good enough for you to start with, and learn from it. Its pretty simple, but if you have a question, do let me know in the comments.

Read next: How to share Xbox One games with the family with multiple consoles.