Is Roblox Safe for Kids? An Honest Answer From a Mum

The short answer: Honestly? In our house, Roblox is a no. You can make it safer with the parental controls, and they have genuinely improved — but the two things that worry me most still slip through, even with the settings switched on. If you can steer your kids away from it, I would.

I know that's not the answer a lot of parents want, because their kids already love it. I'm not here to scare you or judge you. I'm just telling you what we decided after actually looking into it — and why.

What Roblox is

Roblox isn't one game. It's a platform hosting millions of games ("experiences") made by other users, with chat, friends, and a virtual currency called Robux that you buy with real money. Around 40% of its players are under 13. That mix of user-made worlds, strangers and real-money spending is the heart of the problem.

Why we said no (the honest version)

1. Too many worlds you wouldn't want them in get through. Because anyone can build an experience, moderation is always playing catch-up. Most of it is harmless fun — but violent, disturbing and sexualised "worlds" do get through, and a curious kid can land in one with a single tap. Without an adult sitting right there, I couldn't be confident about what my eight-year-old was actually seeing. Roblox has faced documented safety problems and lawsuits from multiple US states over exactly this.

2. Robux is real money — and there's pressure attached to it. Robux costs real dollars, and kids feel genuine social pressure to have more of it — for items, for status, to keep up with friends. There's been widespread reporting of kids running up real charges, of Robux "scams" that trick children, and of kids pushing to spend (sometimes using a parent's saved card without asking). I didn't want my boys learning that money is something you wheedle, sneak or spend to fit in.

3. Strangers and chat. As with most online games, the first contact with someone your child doesn't know often happens inside the game. The eSafety Commissioner notes most Australian kids who've been contacted by someone they first met online were playing a game when it happened.

"But my kids already play it…"

If Roblox is a yes in your house — and for plenty of families it will be — then please don't run it on the defaults. At the very least: set your child's real age on the account (this drives the 2026 age-based tiers — the under-9 "Kids" tier is curated with chat off); link your account with Family Pairing, set a Parental PIN, and restrict chat to Friends or No one; set a Robux spending limit and check the spending summary; and keep it on a screen in a shared family room, never alone in a bedroom — and play alongside them sometimes.

But I'll be straight with you: those controls reduce the risk, they don't remove it. The violent-content and money-pressure issues are baked into how the platform works, which is why we chose to opt out rather than manage it.

What we do instead

We point the boys at games with no open chat and no user-made worlds — and when they do want something social, it's supervised and time-limited. It's not about wrapping them in cotton wool; it's about picking battles, and this was one we decided wasn't worth fighting every single day.

The bottom line: Roblox can be made safer, but in our family the violent worlds that slip through and the real-money pressure made it a no. Make your own call — just don't let the defaults make it for you.