Ready for a surprising fact? Moderate amounts of playing video games can actually be good for kids. That’s because time spent playing games is generally about solving a puzzle, engaging in friendly competition, or socializing with friends — all things we tend to encourage our kids to do.

Fortunately for parents, many gaming companies take a proactive approach to building experiences that are both fun and safe. Take Epic Games, for example. They’re the creator behind one of the world’s largest games: Fortnite. If you’re already familiar with Fortnite, you may know it as the Battle Royale-style game, but in recent years, it has evolved into a gaming hub with thousands of experiences across a wide range of gaming genres. Offering kid-friendly games and strong parental controls, Epic Games helps create a protected and positive space in the digital sphere.

Ahead, we’re offering six tips for parents whose kids want to explore the world of video games. We will examine Fortnite’s features and settings as an example, but these tips are relevant regardless of what game your child wants to play. Because at the end of the day, video games should be a positive environment for kids.

1. Find The Right Games

A big part of helping your kid build a positive relationship with video games is finding the genres and games you feel comfortable with them playing based on their age and maturity. One place to start is with video game age ratings. In the U.S. and Canada, these ratings are assigned by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) based on their age-appropriateness and content.

Fortnite has over 137,000 experiences, each with its own ESRB rating from “E for Everyone” to “T for Teen,” which can help parents make informed decisions about what their child should play.

2. Review The Game’s Social Settings & Rules

Before allowing your kid to start a game, familiarize yourself with the settings and player rules. For instance, what protections does the game provide from the outset? In Fortnite, if a player indicates they are under 13, they’ll be given a “Cabined Account,” which provides a tailored experience that’s safe and inclusive for younger players. With this account, young players can play Fortnite, but certain features are turned off, including voice and text chat and making real money purchases, until a parent or guardian provides consent.

Another example is text chat filters. With Fortnite, when text chat is on for players under 13, the personal information filter and the mature language filter will always be on. The mature language filter removes various kinds of mature language and toxicity, and the personal information filter removes certain types of information, such as email addresses and credit card numbers. Parents can also choose to enable these filters for children over 13.

And remember to look at the game’s rules. Epic’s Community Rules provide clear guidelines for how players are expected to behave inside Fortnite. Both you and your child should understand the game’s rules and appropriate behavior before jumping into a game.

3. Set Up Parental Controls

This is key, people! Utilizing parental controls is an essential part of your online safety toolkit. Epic Games has over a dozen Parental Control settings, including social permissions, purchasing permission, time limits, time reports, and more. Some of these settings offer more granular options than a simple “on” or “off.” For example, parents have four different options for their child’s voice and text chat settings: They can allow their child to speak with everybody, friends and teammates, only friends, or nobody (aka chat is turned off).

All of this together can offer major peace of mind and help set your child up for safe and fun play.

4. Play With Your Kids

Like with any hobby, the best way to understand your kids’ experience is to join in. When you game with your kids, you not only set good examples of how to behave online, but you can also be a part of their favorite thing and see firsthand how it might benefit them. Epic Games released a split-screen mode for LEGO Fortnite Odyssey, a survival, crafting, and cooperation game created by Epic Games and the LEGO Group, allowing you to game together side-by-side. Psst, even if they resist at first, they’ll feel good knowing that you want to meet them where they are.

5. Get Involved

Beyond just playing with your kids, you can stay in the mix by keeping yourself updated on what’s happening in the gaming world. You might join an online community, read reviews of new games, or just talk with your game-loving kid about what they’ve heard about that excites them. Being a part of their world means you’ll be better able to keep them safe within it (plus, you’ll probably grow to love it, too!).

6. Promote Balance

One tool Epic Games offers to help promote balanced gameplay is Time Limit Controls, which enable you to set time limits for your family. You can limit the total amount of time your kid can play per day or choose specific windows each day and customize them based on the day of the week. Many consoles also offer time limit settings to promote balance further.

By utilizing parental controls like those offered by Epic Games, paying attention to what they’re playing, and being an active part of your kids’ gaming life, you can be sure that your kid is enjoying and getting benefits from gaming and also participating in a world of activities offline.