Can I still switch to a child theme?

Question

I bought a premium theme for my managed WordPress blog which includes a child theme. I installed both but activated the parent theme and started working on it (just adding logo and stuff) since I wasn't aware of the difference it makes but didn't modify any code. Is it too late to switch to the child theme? Can I still activate the child theme and continue to receive updates for the parent? Are there any downsides of using a child theme? If I have to switch to the child theme, do I need to uninstall and re-install both the parent and the child and start over?

PS: The theme is called Zephyr by UpSolutions. It includes a third party page builder plugin called Visual Composer. The theme options also have a header builder add-on which I used to customize the header on the parent theme. Purchased on Envato Market.

Theme: https://themeforest.net/item/zephyr-material-design-theme/9865647

Answer 1

Copy the theme files you changed to your local computer to save the changes you made. Then reinstall the parent and child theme.

Then make the changes to the child theme that you made in the code of the parent theme. Normally, if you want to change code, you do it via a child theme. THat way, the changes you make to code/CSS/whatever will not be overwritten with a theme update.

Not sure how the included child theme will fit into this. If the theme author is using the Child Theme protocol properly, a theme update will only affect the parent theme.