Does your DC have their own laptop/pc?

[EvilMama]

One that is solely for their use, not shared between family/siblings. And if so, what age are they, what do they use it for and how much time do they spend on it?

DS is 13 and DD is 17 and yes they both have laptops. They need them because they have medical needs dispensation at school but the schools don't have enough laptops for everybody so it's first come first served and some days, they miss out. We are allowed to provide one from home so they use it at school/college and they use them for school work. Obviously, they can also watch films or play games on them sometimes as well.

Since my boys started high school they have their own laptops and my daughter will have her own too when needed.

Dts had chrome books age 6 which was a godsend when we went into lock down. Upgraded to laptops when they went into y7. Chrome books are crap though, I would skip that part if we were doing it again.

Oh and they use them for school. They download stuff to watch if we are travelling. They don't use them for anything else.

yes.
it's a requirement from their secondary school.
they could rent one but that would be more expensive over time than buying it outright.

DD got her own when she finished Y8, thanks to Covid. The school changed the way they receive and submit their work and sharing our family one was getting impossible.

She does 85% of all school work on it, plus research, revision and all school communication via Teams and email.

Over the years (she is in Y13 now) she also started using it for watching movies, she has online seminars via Zoom on it and mindlessly surfs the net.

They all do. For a while when the teen dds were early teens they shared our ‘family’ laptop for homework. Dc1 got their own at 15, dc2 14 and we got dc3 a laptop for their 11th birthday (that one stays in my office and he only uses it for homework).
They got one because we no longer had a general one for our own use, it died and now I have a work one. It’s quite nice as dc3 will come and do homework while I’m finishing up my last hour of work when they get home from school, we both tend to finish together!

Míne have both had a laptop since they were 12. It is a requirement of their secondary school that they have one.

They have a shared one. Its 95% for their use... but its also the only computer which will connect to our printer (the newer laptops won't recognise it!) So sometimes we need to borrow it.

DC school have chrome books from year 4. That's 9-10 years old so thats when our DC have gotten theirs. Either bring you own or borrow from the school. They used Chrome books for all students during covid.

DD1 got one when she was about 10, with an eye to her needing it for secondary school. I don't think she's opened it since she started there 🙄

We got a Chromebook for DD7 last year as she had lots of apps to access for homework from school. She only uses it for homework.

I have an expensive laptop for work and didn't want her breaking it, so preferred to get her her own. She uses Chromebooks in school so she was familiar with it and it is good for locking down the internet and putting time limits on it.

We will be getting one for DS soon.

Yes, they've had Theo own since age 6, with age appropriate restrictions lifted as they got older.

Yes. I told them I'd buy them their own laptop when they could touch type 40 words per minute. Was exceptionally motivating for them.

DS got his own PC aged 10. It's in an area of the spare room I use for work.

He had been using mine for gaming (some Steam games that weren't available on his Xbox) and making videos for YouTube (again, gaming and football, nothing with his face in) but I have a particular setup for work and I'd sit down on a morning to find he'd left the desk a bit messy etc.

I paid £50 for a computer from marketplace, put a few spare parts into it so it's fine for the games he plays (nothing too taxing) and since then he's had his own computer and area to use.

Really he goes through spells with it depending what his friends are doing, I've not seen him playing for a while now.

Yes, they've each had one since they started secondary school and needed them during lockdown.

Oooo @Neolara I like that idea! Our secondary has specifically said they do not need technology at home and if they will use it during the lessons if they need to. They rarely have homework tbh and when they do it's learning for a test or worksheets. We've never had homework on apps etc.

My dd got one when she started college, she used mine until then if she needed to.

Yes, the year they started secondary. Nothing fancy but it did the job for typing homework up nicely and research.

How did you go about getting them to learn touch-typing? We've been advised by dd's OT to get her a laptop and for her to learn to touch type. Did they find it difficult?

I found a free online tutorial wepsite. Can't remember what now but there are likely to be a few around still.

I think they must have learned to touch type on a family pc. They all found it pretty easy to learn. I suspect I they just found an online typing tutor program. It was during COVID and they had little else to distract them. Ds really got into it and his group of friends used to compete over typing speeds. He can now type ridiculously fast - well over 100 wpm.