urban.derelict: "GET OFF THE COMPUTER, I NEED THE PHONE!"

/1990

ha!

CARRIER LOST

Impasse: That's amazing, I've got the same combination on my iLuggage!

Thank you, President Skroob

/Hail Skroob

greighwolf: Imperialism: "I don't want to teach my children how to use things responsibly, what's your advice?"

Shock Collars

I wouldn't mind putting a few kids in those things.

One desktop computer that the family shares? When she has two school age children? Yeah, that's gonna work out well. And later she can rub sticks together and cook the family dinner in the fireplace in the living room.

Then they can huddle around the family floor lamp after dinner to read.

Sure, you can do it with desktops out in a family area, but if you've got two kids, unless you're too poor to even scrounge used off Craigslist, you need a computer for every kid, because more and more of their homework is going to be online or typed.

And unless the adults are total Luddites, you may need one or two more---which, incidentally, is the best way of making sure you're around to see what the heck is on little Johnny and little Suzie's screen.

(Or, you could buy your kids an anatomically correct anatomy book or similar and sit down with them and deal with the curiosity in a respectful way instead of leaving them to learn about it from porn on a neighbor kid's computer.)

My son's had his own computer since he was 3. He's now 6. The other day, he was asking me about virtual machines. I told him about VirtualBox. He thought it sounded cool, and disappeared into his room for about an hour. Then, he bounded down the stairs and said "Dad, I got it running. Do you have an operating system I can install?"

The FBI's going to come to the house by the time he's 14, but that's another story.

If you have a little (and very little needed) computer savvy, just set up an OpenDNS account, change the little bleeder's TCP/IP settings to "manual" and add in the requisite DNS servers.

And as noted, unplug the thing.

I have the power strip for my daughter's computer on a timer. After a certain point... BLEEP! Used to be I tell her to help with dinner or get ready for bed and I'd get lip for five minutes (I let it slide... with me as her dad it's not like she has genetics on her side) before she'd do what I say. Now? "Dinner will be ready in five. *sets timer*" her: "Goddamnitsomuch!"

As the father of a 9-month-old, I lol'd.

I submitted this story with a better headline.

urban.derelict: Julie Cochrane: you need a computer for every kid

[www.blogcdn.com image 225x301]

Don't shoot the messenger. Sure, you can handle homework with kids having to share the family computer--they can take turns. But it's a lot easier to have kids do the equivalent chore at the same time, same structured routine. You come home from school, you get your glass of water or milk and your snack, you do your homework.

The older the kids get, the more that homework involves researching topics online, or the more likely it is that they're carrying around a CD of the textbook in their backpack instead of a heavy textbook. Or that the textbook is online.

The kid's typing tutorial homework is absolutely going to require a keyboard. If you want the kid to have a decent typing speed during the computer time in class, he has to have time to practice at home.

Laura and Mary Ingalls shared a slate when they went to school----but it wasn't because the two of them only needed one slate. It was because their parents could only afford one.

A computer is today's slate. If you can afford one for each school age child, you get one for each. If your kids have to share, it can be managed, but it's generally out of necessity (unless your school system is very non-computerized or you're a douche).

Disagree with the article, after-all the internet will need the naughty pics she's going to take and trade/post on-line.



_{/runs away}