To think that 3 is too young to be worrying about computer skills.

[psiloveyou]

My 3 year dd just got her report from pre school.
It is really good and I am very pleased. However, the only negative comment was that she is not yet confident on the computer and cannot click and drag the mouse.

Whilst I understand that these days fairly good IT skills are a useful tool. Do they really need to be confident at 3. I wouldn't dream of letting her on the computer at home. I'm happy for her to play around at pre school but I really don't think computer skills are something that need to be commented on when they are 3.

I am a bit behind the times. I am worried now that we should be letting her spend time on the computer at home.

Those people are insane! Why would they even want him to be able to do that with an iPad. I had to switch off when Dad's chippy little voice got too annoying, but their kid is really cute- he just needs to be running around and playing in sand and mud. There is so much more to a human being than fiddling with expensive toys.

How do you know he wasn't running round in sand and mud 10 minutes after the video was filmed?

Totally barmy there is too much expectation on little ones nowadays, she is still incredibly young and has the rest of her life to pick it up, what did they do in the days before the computer. If adults can pick it up later in their life, I am sure that your dd will. IMO it is too much at this age, the less that they know about the computer the better, there will come a time when they will want to be on it a lot, especially Beebo, Facebook etc.

Bit of an eye opener for me - didn't know it was a part of the curriculum.

Wish I had the date and recording of BBC Radio Wales "Mousemat" show where (as well as relatively poor internet access) it was believed that only about 50% of homes in Wales have a PC at all.

I've been keen/using computers since the late 70s and while I can go without any computer for a while, need to use them for my business and enjoy learning new things daily. Appreciate not every household can afford and wish the 'laptop for all' project incuded the less well-off in industrial nations too.

However on this particular aspect, must agree with pigletmania that starting to 'test' 'analyse' progress at such a young age seems OTT. Is it not Sweden where 6 is starting age at school ?

While reading, writing and maths are great foundations, and necessary for all further education, 'testing' or 'assessment' seem a bit out of place at ages 3-5, on IT skills, though there are absolute essentials of understanding so danger, pain, love, needs can be expressed, along with social skills to share toys, not be isolated etc.