Children today grow up knowing exactly what a mobile phone is, and how to use it – usually by the age of 5. That’s because they watch us adults use them or they borrow them to play games with. Every time they do this, it leaves us casting a watchful eye on our children so that they don’t make any phone calls, send emails, or generally cause havoc with our digital lives. The Kid’s Corner feature on Windows Phone 8 comes to the rescue.

Kid’s Corner on the new Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 gives you a feeling of relief and security when you hand over your phone to your young ones. It’s a place where your child can play, fiddle, and interact as much as they like without deleting your contacts, sending an email to your entire address book or uploading photos to your Facebook profile with the stealth and agility that any parent will be too familiar with – all before hitting reset phone.

It’s not to say that they do this on purpose – I’m sure most don’t – but young children have a knack for causing the most amount of digital damage with very little effort – somehow.

To set up Kid’s Corner, press the tile on the Start screen to get started. It’s here that you’ll be able to select the apps or content you want your child to have access too. You’ll then be asked to enter a PIN number; this is used to stop your child getting into the main phone section.

You’re little one could have access to the Camera if your child likes capturing the world from their point-of-view, or any other app you select from your app list, but make sure they are child-suitable first. You can also allow them to access music and video titles from within the Music + Videos Hub, as well as games from the Games Hub.

Once you’ve setup Kid’s Corner, your child will be able to access it by swiping left from your normal Lock screen, and then swiping up.

This new child-safe zone can be customised somewhat by your child. You can change the wallpaper, the accent, the theme colours and the name that appears on the Lock screen. We’d recommend you change all of those so that there’s no way your child can confuse which screen is theirs, and which is yours.

But if that should happen, the PIN number you set up earlier will stop them getting into the other phone functions.

What about those in-app, in-game purchases?

Don’t worry about those, the Kid’s Corner blocks them. No more nasty surprises next time you check your bank statement.

You’ve also got peace of mind when it comes to Web browsing, as that’s blocked too.

At any point, pressing the power button will lock the phone and exit Kid’s Corner. When you press it again, you’ll be back at your own Lock screen and ready for business.

Kid’s Corner is a child-friendly, worry-free zone in your Windows Phone 8 smartphone that stops little fingers from doing any damage. It’s also a place where you child can play freely, uninterrupted by concerned parents. It’d a win-win situation for everybody involved.

Are you using Kid’s Corner? Let us know.