Jump to content

Talk about dreaming big--my 5 y/o wants a computer!


outnumbered

Recommended Posts

My 4 and 7 year olds share a computer and have for the last 3 years. My 13 year old has her own. My husband has his own (heaven forbid if we had to share). I have my own desktop and now a laptop that I refuse to share. We are really into computers in this house. All of the desktops were pieced together with parts from Newegg. We don't buy anything "prebuilt", its much cheaper to build your own and actually very simple.

 

My 4 year old son can surf the internet and play games rated for much older children now. Its definately a different generation of kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually built my 3 year old a computer for her room for Christmas. She gets on ours all the time for NickJR.com, Noggin.com, disneychannel.com etc. I didn't spend much though. I have a bunch of computer junk just piled in our storage room. She got a Pentium 4 1.6 Ghz (I had to get a new motherboard... fried the old one), 256 MB Ram, 15 GB Hard Drive, 40x CD-ROM. Bought a new tower case/power supply for $35 from Fry's and a USB Wi-Fi adaptor for $9.99 from Ebay. Spray painted the case & keyboard casing pink, then stuck Dora The Explorer stickers all over it. Bought a Dora mouse at Fry's for $15. Configured Windows XP so that she has NO admin rights, NO "Start Menu"/Taskbar, and no address bar or favorites in Internet explorer. The only thing she gets is a desktop theme of Dora, and customized desktop icons that take her to:

 

Nick Jr

Toon Disney

Playhouse Disney

Disney Channel

Noggin

Cartoon Network

Dooglebops

 

Wife and I can add more kid friendly website icons and software as needed.

 

PC Anywhere is also installed so we can look in at what she is doing from time to time.

 

She is gonna love it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my 16 year old stepdaughter just asked for books or money to buy books. I think we ended up with about a dozen things wrapped. she's getting excited for sunday and she's only seen one present under the tree (about a 4x4x3 box). the rest aren't even out yet. she'll flip when she sees it all.

Can we PLEASE trade????? I have 3 eight year olds that think reading 15 minutes a night is punishment!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The younger the better. As much as people want to be "old school" and give kids more traditional things, computers are going to become more and more interweaved with everything we do in life. Giving your kid "computer smarts" will definitely be an advantage.

 

I would personally want my kid to learn as young as they can, and I think its great your kid wants one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

that is how is works in this house too, whenever I get mine upgraded they get the older parts for their computers. It goes by seniority here (well except for me, LOL......I get the newer stuff before hubby because I live on the puter).
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My son is a little bugger. He liked using my computer so about two years ago I bought him his own. It's a pretty nice desktop. The thing only has about 20 hours on it, if that! He played a few games and his typing tutor game for a little bit, but His Highness wants a laptop.

 

I ordered myself a new laptop and this one has an issue that the company has offered to repair at no cost, so I'm going to give him this one and then take his desktop for my kitchen computer since the one in there kicked the can a couple of months ago and I really enjoy having one in there.

 

I really wish he would use the computer more. They start in kindergarten at school using the computer and he really needs to learn to type, which is basically a 3rd grade learning skill. (I should say, it is best to begin serious learning for the average child in 3rd grade according to my aunt who is a special ed teacher.) My son has dysgraphia, a writing disability, and if he would only use his computer more I think his life would be much easier.

 

Then again, this is the kid that I have to coerce to play video games. He'd much rather build something out of junk, lol. He'd be happier with a box of paperclips, a bag of rubber bands, and a box of tongue depressors, lol. I think that's wonderful, but he has to be able to do some schoolwork!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daughter has had her own computer since age 7. I have a parental block on it still to avoid her going onto sites not appropriate for her. I think 5 is a bit young, but also it depends on the maturity of the child. My daughter when she first got her computer, went to Nick jr, game sites etc. Now she uses it for school ( shes 10 now))
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, honestly, I don't know what everyone else's budget for gifts is, but in my family, I would have to pool all the Christmas money for all 3 kids to get a computer and it would be the one and only gift under the tree for them. We make like $25K/year. We cannot afford to just up and buy a computer. My kids will simply have to deal with sharing mine for a few more years minimum.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a computer when 5 years old and that was in the 70's. I been using one ever since. Now I fix computers for people now. My phone has been ring off the hook Christmas Eve night to hook up people computers for them. I just got in and quit taking calls after 9:00 p.m. Everyone has to wait until Monday get there hook up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...