Posted on 07/19/2010 9:46:39 PM PDT by violet the pup
my daughter is 7 and we were just given a kind of new computer.
other than setting up normal internet protections, what do other members suggest with regards to young users and computer/internet use?
this is my first post. thanks to all advice!
Children who start using computers at a young age have been found to have poor handwriting skills at least in terms of legibility.
So that means they’ll grow up to be doctors.
Our kids love neopets.com, a free game site that has instructions for drawing cartoons.
Our limits:
our computers are in the common area. We have to check what they are doing. The kids have innocent intentions but some searches turn up very unintended results.
The kids do not know the password to log on.
If I’ve left it logged in and they get on when they are not supposed to, (as in they should be studying), my low-tech solution is to confiscate the mouse.
If a kid is giving too much “attitude”, the computer access is the first privilege lost, and that lasts until the weekend.
Our kids are 8 and 11 and, as a family, we have learned so much and have had a lot of good laughs when we look up things we are curious about.
Don’t assume your kid will learn to type correctly, though, absent a disciplined effort. Despite lots of use of the keyboard, my kids still don’t type efficiently enough when it’s time to crank out a report. My generation actually learned it better on the old IBM selectric. Despite computer training since kindergarten, my kids can do only a little better than modified hunting and pecking.
Yeah no internet access unless supervised.. We have a 10 yr old son that has been using an iMac since age 4 with no internet access. If he wants internet access we supervise him while he’s on it.
No internet unless supervised! Only safe sites. NASA has some cool stuff on their website. Boy Scouts of America is another good one.
Install Parental software that blocks content and networking sites. Be proactive and vigilant, learn what is out there.
Kids are very curious and they learn from their peers about things you didn’t teach them. Other kids have computers, netbooks, smartphones, etc and will show her “cool stuff”.
Best thing to do is use it as a tool for learning and work with her to find interesting things or answer questions.
Make the experience and parent/child interactive experience.
Imagine she just asked you some question about science or nature. You can fire up the computer and together explore the answers and learn interesting things.
When I was growing up, my parents had an entire room full of books and Encyclopedias of all types. Encyclopedia Britania, Encyclopedia of people, Encyclopedia science, etc. It was a big room and for a kid who had a million question and found everything interesting it was a real help to be able to go and learn from our private library and my parents were involved, so it bonded us even further.
Now, we have the Internet and it is the World Wide Library. You can learn all day.
There are even games for children and just to be safe you can go to Yahoo games. They have age appropriate games that aid in learning, memory and some are just fun.
This is a very good point about the typing skills.
For me, this is an odd question. I didn’t have a computer until I was 12 or so. I learned to write and didn’t type much at all until grade 8 where I did typing courses that taught me how to touch type.
Personally, I’m of mixed feelings on this. There really isn’t much need for them to be on a computer before they are 12. I would want to start them off with a typing course first so that they learn to type properly without picking up bad habits that will take time to correct.
Welcome to FreeRepublic.com.
Our child started around 2.5 - 3 yrs old.
Monitor the content and time your child spends on the computer and set ground rules for usage.
First off, welcome to FreeRepublic!
Let me agree with others by saying that The Computer was positioned in a common area that would invite NO expectation of privacy. At the time we got a computer, my son was about ten years old. We used no special filtering software, so secret passwords, or anything that sexy. Just the thought that boring ol’ mom could walk by at any moment, and lean on the kid’s shoulder saying “so what’s up, honey?” was our security system once the internet came out.
My son did not have internet/computer access in his room until his freshman year of college. And this wasn’t like 300 years ago; he is only 25 now.
Also, we came up with our own set of mutually agreed upon rules, such as no chat rooms. Every family is different, you’ll come to know what works for you.
Good luck. Computers and the internet test parenthood. LOL
There are lots of great websites for kids
www.enchantedlearning.com
There are several great ones for helping kids learn to read, but I forgot what those are.
My kids have been on the internet for a long, long time.
We just set up the computer in a shared location, and didn’t put it in their rooms.
Don’t worry about typing.
I didn’t learn to type until I was in college.
I have a degree in computer science. It’s easy to teach yourself to type. They’ll learn that skill when they need it.
Computers don’t need the internet to run.
Beware, the American Library Association is anti-filtering and coaches kids in how to circumvent filtering software.
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/ifissues/issuesrelatedlinks/whyfilterswontprotect.cfm
“Plus young people have little trouble finding these unblocked sites or loading software that bypasses filters altogether.3”
3. See, for example, Peacefire’s Web site, Instructions for Getting around Blocking Software. Accessed Sept. 2, 2003, www.peacefire.org/circumventor/simple-circumventor-instructions.html. The circumventor program that anonymously circumvents filtering software was developed by the U.S. government’s International Broadcasting Bureau, which broadcasts the Voice of America, in order to defeat filtering in China and other countries that suppress or monitor Internet use of their citizens.
Do you touch type? What’s your wpm?
At the age of 5, mine was already surfing the internet.
Was that on Kims site ?
I believe the proper age for child in this day and age for a computer is roughly 18 years old.
I just went to typingtest.com and according to it, I am typing at 52 wpm which is fast touch typing.
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