I’m sitting here with my daughter’s school laptop in bed (feeling crapola with a cold) as I write this so I’m aware that I’m being a bit hypocritical…
Here’s the thing. My daughter has gone to a new school this year. A school that insists that every child should use a laptop from Grade 5. Their argument is that we live in an age where computers and digital devices are a part of our lives and that we should make use of every tool we can to educate our children. And yes, I get that.
But since we’ve had this third computer in the house we barely see our 11 year old. It’s Youtube 24/7 – or until Groover goes mental because we’ve been shaped again. She doesn’t seem to read books anymore – it’s chapter after chapter of fan fiction.
We insist that she uses the computer in public and we’ve learned that you take the laptop away from her at bedtime – what I’m not seeing is a whole lot of homework done on the computer and given that, I wonder why the school doesn’t store the wretched things in the classroom. Do they really need to take them home?
The only good thing is that at least she’s not fighting with my son now over the second computer.
So here I am enjoying her MacBook interface on our wireless system (which doesn’t seem to work for my work laptop) and whinging.
Partly it’s the lazy parent in me that finds it hard to cope – I get tired of continually taking it away from her and telling her off for exceeding our bandwidth quota again.
And part of it is my old fashioned sense of media. I want my child to enjoy books as books! Not fan fiction. Although, having said that if she was writing her own stories… well now, that would be different. And maybe endless reading of it will lead to writing her own…
In the meantime my darling Dipp has earned a merit award at school. So maybe the laptop isn’t the monster I make it out to be.
Oh, you ask, why do I have precious time on the new toy? Ah, she’s out on her brother’s bike getting some fresh air.
I asked her first!
Some parenting tips please! How do you manage computer time in your home?
photo credit: Apollo-Jack
{ 9 comments }
My husband is a network engineer, which enables him to be very mean to our teens. We have a computer in the garage which serves as a firewall. It can restrict the internet access of any computer in the house any number of ways. The kids cannot access any site with questionable content, and, more on topic with your post, they only have internet access for certain hours of the day. The firewall automatically cuts it off, or allows it according to the times he has programmed in. We did this after realising the eldest was on the net after he went to bed at night. Consequently, no Internet access to their computers after 9.30pm.
Our kids are younger (10 and 7) so my rules are for kids that don’t have huge computer homework needs. However, we have no ‘screen time” at all Monday to Friday except for specific homework tasks.
Oh, and we have such strict firewalls that I have to type in a password to get access to most sites I look at (eg. even if they mention the word ‘girlfriend’ etc) which gives me some peace of mind when they are on the net.
When my kids were at school computers weren’t an every house or even every school thing so I didn’t have the same problem. For my grandchildren though, they use computers at school, but are not required to each have their own, when they are at home their time is limited to homework plus 1-2 hours net surfing each. their shared computer is set up in the family room in full view so the parents can keep an eye on what they’re doing. There are no laptops in their house. They also have limited time on the playstation, plus plenty of outdoor activities, like bike riding, swimming, badminton, soccer and ice skating.
We have one main computer in the study and I have repositioned it so that the screen faces the door. We do insist on the door being left open when they are on the net (they are 13 and nearly 17). I also go and check what sites they have visited and have msn set up so that it keeps a record of all conversations. This in not so I can check up on what they have been talking about but we did experience some “internet bullying” with the eldest and I was able to produce a copy of the comments made to her over the net which were passed to the girls parents by her school.
Kitchen timer.
They get 30 minutes chunks – if they are lucky they may get more than one – and that’s it.
Everyone in my house has a laptop, and as the family nerd it’s my duty to make sure they’re all running smoothly. The problem we have is that we’re unable to set our firewall to block traffic at certain hours of the night as one of us tends to work until odd hours of the night.
I think one of the things that people need to look at when it comes to computers is the educational impact they can have on children. Sites like digg.com are great for finding news sources that aren’t commonly found at our fingertips. Of course there is the downside of sites like myspace and youtube. (which when used properly are great tools that can inspire creativity and responsibility)
The greatest advantage of children using computers is the advantage it gives them later on in life.
Knowing your way around a computer is extremely important and with time and practice comes ability and knowledge. I think we should start requiring students take classes on how the internet works. Basic html and css as well as information on IP addresses, internet downloading, etc.
By giving children the foundation and building blocks of the internet we’d be giving them the chance to better understand the world around them.
We ration internet time and other than the weekends, no more than half an hour at a time. Our kids are 7 and 9.
Our seven year old loves to play games and watch YouTube. We have no Wii or Play Station, so that is our compromise. Our 9 year old prefers to write stories on our old beat up PC and to print them out.
We bought a laptop, so that we could be around when they were using the computer. No computers in the bedroom
Not too many complaints. I like the idea of a timer.
I got my first laptop ever a few years ago as a going-to-university present from my aunt and uncle. I’m seventeen and I think I’m one of the last few people in my grade to get a laptop. My parents are so strict about computer usage (on my desktop, it automatically logs off at 11 PM) and I’m really grateful for their boundaries (okay, so I whine and complain sometimes when it logs off when I’m in the middle of typing an essay or I show up to class with pen and paper while everyone else is pounding away on the laptop)… I find that I get a lot more done AWAY from the computer. It’s so easy to procrastinate while online and browsing sites.
I think it’s completely ridiculous that grade 5 kids need laptop. I didn’t even know how to get online when I was in grade 5 (oh my god I sound old typing this…) let alone having a personal laptop. Productivity goes WAY down and pointless/dangerous online activities goes WAY up with computers.
Oops, correction: I got my first laptop ever a few WEEKs ago***