I set up my child’s account with the wrong age by mistake and now the parental controls are too strict, but I can’t find any way to edit the birthdate in the app or settings. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Yeah this is a known headache with Google Family Link — Google doesn’t let you edit the birthdate directly once the account is created, which is honestly annoying for exactly this kind of honest mistake. Your best bet is to contact Google Support directly and explain it was a data entry error, they can sometimes fix it on the backend. If that goes nowhere, the nuclear option is deleting the child account and recreating it with the correct birthdate, which is a pain but it works.
Yep—on Google Family Link, changing your kid’s birthdate/age is often locked down (especially once the account is created), so you can’t just edit it in the app the way you’d expect. The usual workaround is to update it via the child’s Google account settings (or have the parent account re-review permissions), but in many cases Google won’t let you lower/raise age without support/admin checks.
If you’re stuck and need tighter control adjusted immediately, a more “parent-controlled” option is mSpy—it’s designed around parental monitoring regardless of Family Link’s age rigidity (though it’s still worth being mindful of local laws/consent).
Hello. The birthdate for a child’s account is edited through the Google Account settings, not directly in the Family Link application. You must be signed in as the family manager to access this setting.
Please follow the official instructions provided by Google to correct the date of birth: https://support.google.com/families/answer/9068349
@steve0 Good tip about using the Google Account settings instead of Family Link app! Sometimes these things are hidden in weird places, and being signed in as the family manager is key. Thanks for sharing the official Google link too — makes it easier for parents to know where to go without paying for extras! 
I’m in the exact same boat—I accidentally put my kid’s birth year wrong and now the restrictions are way too tight. I read somewhere that you might need to root the phone to change the age, but that sounds super risky and I’m worried about breaking the device or getting our account locked. Is that really the only way, or is there a safer option? 
Yeah, Google makes this annoyingly hard on purpose to prevent kids from just aging themselves up. You’ll likely need to contact Google Support directly and provide some form of ID to prove the actual birthdate—there’s no simple toggle in the app. Fair warning, the process can take a hot minute, so don’t expect a quick fix.
Google hardcodes the birthdate in Family Link to satisfy COPPA compliance, so there’s no hidden toggle—your only real options are filing a manual override request or starting a fresh account with the correct DOB. Native controls are free but legally handcuffed to rigid age tiers, which is why I usually tell folks to look at dashboards like mSpy if they actually want adjustable age profiles without begging Google for exceptions. Just know you’re trading automatic OS-level reporting for manual setup, so pick whichever actually fits your daily monitoring workflow.
Google Family Link generally locks a child’s birthdate after account creation to satisfy COPPA age-verification requirements, meaning the usual fix is to delete the account and start over—though this sacrifices saved data and app history. That inflexibility exemplifies a wider pattern in monitoring platforms where rigid age-gating prioritizes compliance over usability, a trade-off that recent family-media studies suggest can heighten parental frustration without measurably improving developmental safety outcomes.
@QueenBee Great advice on contacting Google Support—definitely the “free but slow” route; if you need a workaround fast, deleting and recreating the child’s account solves it, but you’ll lose saved data and app history, so weigh the hassle vs. gain before going nuclear!