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Computer and TV rules at your house

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Pringle, Jan 31, 2011.

  1. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    One other observation---you may restrict your kids access at home, but if they're hanging out at other kids' houses, there's no guarantee they aren't surfing inappropriately there. Hell, with phones these days, they don't have to be at someone's house--could just as easily do that sitting at a park, a ball filed , a mall. etc.
     
  2. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    actually our concern was primarily that we prefer our family to be together as much as possible while limiting the at-home distraction that personal tv/laptop can become. sure, the boys can still play all of their vid games ad nauseum on their shared flat-screen tv in the common area outside their bedrooms but we can effectively monitor the activity since it's within hearing distance... as is their penchant to celebrate, groan, curse, etc., while playing...

    we've never had any concern about any of the stooges being drawn into the world of perversion and predators. it's strictly been an effort to limit their access to many of the more innocent potential distractions.

    as for the need for kids to have laptops to do their homework nowadays, well, that's a bunch of bull. they need access to a computer at times, but not their own laptop. the other stuff cited by 'ace' are simply luxury items i leave for parents to differentiate between 'distracting' and 'well-deserved leisure.'

    no judgments. if it's working for a family, that's absolutely wonderful. both the parental units and their kids deserve our admiration for pulling that off. well done.

    the problem with these discussions is that people think we're making 'judgments' if we don't agree with their method. no judgments intended here. whatever works for you is great.

    simply put, for folks with kids approaching the age when this tv/computer issue rears its head, is to offer a belief that one approach is accompanied by more risks than the other. but either approach certainly can produce effed-up kids.
     
  3. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Hey, I don't always make the right calls and I have policed the computer stuff pretty well (my kids call me a creeper).

    I'm not always comfortable with it myself, so if someone else wants to call me out, that's fine.

    FWIW, the kids paid for the computers (mostly) by themselves with birthday/Christmas/allowance money.
     
  4. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    The no computer/TV in their own room/own access thing is going to be like the no-TV thing of a generation ago -- it's probably better overall and the kids will do better in school because of it, but they'll also be missing out on a lot of things that are part of the culture and there could be some social awkwardness in the interim.

    Also, homework does include computers now. If your son had to crack a book for three hours studying for a math test, you'd want him to do it at the desk in his room if that's where his homework station is set up. I imagine you'd want the same thing if it's an online project.
     
  5. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Just about every day before school my son is grabbing homework he just printed out to take to school.
     
  6. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Shockey, thanks for the words of warning regarding high school. I've got one going into it next year. I think I'm more nervous about high school than my son is.

    By the way, the beauty of homework on computers is that my kids can email it to their teachers once they're done, thus changing who ate the homework from the dog to the server.
     
  7. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    The other beauty is getting regular grade reports via email from their teachers. We see the scores on every homework assignment, every test, etc., so if there are issues or concerns, we can know it basically as soon as it happens and not for the report to come home at the end of the quarter or semester when it's too late (and why are there eraser marks on that report card anyway????).
     
  8. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    that's an awesome, lol point. i'm still doubled over....
     
  9. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    that's where this issue becomes a rapidly-changing one. our h.s. isn't up to speed compared with what you describe here. also, regarding the 'they need a laptop for homework' argument, it's quite possible homework assigned now at the pre-h.s. level requires laptop assistance. i suppose i could be out of the loop on that one...

    then again, i'd imagine that laptops are not an affordable luxury for the majority of pre-h.s. kids. i have no data on that. but if that is true how can all these 'homework assignments' requiring a laptop i keep hearing about be valid?
     
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    My son is in fifth grade, and the list of required supplies included a memory stick. I didn't delve into what happens if the kids don't have a computer at home, but I assume this gives them the flexibility to use a friend's computer or go to the school or public library.
     
  11. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    My son did a Power Point display for a project in sixth grade which the teacher said was the best Power Point display she has seen from one of her students.

    And like LTL, my kids have had memory sticks as required supplies since about sixth grade.
     
  12. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    My younger son's FIRST-grade teacher wanted him to do a PowerPoint. So if you complain, "I can't learn Power Point," rest assured you've disqualified yourself from something it's been determined a first-grader can do. (Though, to be fair, my son begged off the PowerPoint.)

    Shockey, for us, giving our oldest son a laptop was less about him and more about my wife and me, in that we got tired of him bugging us for our laptops so he could do his book reports and such.
     
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