Apple's suite of online services (a.k.a.: iCloud) helps you to manage your digital life. From email to calendaring to photo-sharing, your iCloud account has the potential to be the center of your digital life. This is not only true for you, but it will likely be true for your children as well.
Even though they may not be ready to use iCloud right now, here's some advice that will help you (and them) when they are ready to use it.
I have young children who won't be ready for email accounts for a few years still. By the time they are, however, it may be a challenge to get an account name/address that is user friendly, resorting to something like "billy_2015@icloud.com". Is there a way to avoid this? Absolutely! Simply create new iCloud accounts for them now (even if they won't be using them for a while).
The process of signing up for a free account differs depending on the device you are creating the account on.
If you're creating the account on a Mac
- Open System Preferences
- Click on iCloud
- Follow the instructions to create a new account
If you're creating the account on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch)
- Go to Settings > iCloud
- Follow the instructions to create a new account
Note: if they're too young, you may need to adjust their birth year to make them appear older than they actually are. This can be changed later.
Since this new account likely won't be be used for a while, you are welcome to immediately delete the account from your settings. As with your own account, it is important that you remember the password for this account. If you aren't already using a password manager app, I would highly recommend that you do, and store your passwords there (I recommend using 1Password).
