...to wonder why parents allow thier kids free range PC's/Tablets/Smart phones etc

[ElenorRigby]

I was reading about a mum who was having awful trouble with her preteen kids who would get very angry or worse if she tried to part them from PC's.

AIBU to not get why parents let this happen?

Rather than bannng access I prefer the route of educating DD about online security and safety. I have done so since she was small and first using computers and the like. I continue to do so, with additional age appropriate stuff, as she grows older.

I do the same when teaching computing to Y1/2 children, and even EYFS.

I find it the safer option tbh.

Well, my DD has been given a chromebook by her school (she's in Y7, whole school have been given them), so I trump you all .

Tee - aww, you won't talk to me on Boxing Day then, with your top-end Leap Pad Ultra - I'm going to come begging, with cap in hand, at your house!

If I parked the girls on tech all day everyday I guess Id feel guilty and be defensive too.

Love this very passive aggressive post from the OP - who then goes on to call everyone passive aggressive! (Apart from those who agree with her, obviously )

ict makes the world go round.it is an utterly different world to even 2 generations ago.you sound like king canute

Goodness.

How awful of me to have "parked my girl" in front of her iPad.

In reality what has happened is that she is - as we speak - listening to some music and reading a score on there of a song she's singing in a concert - its pinging out the correct notes and colouring the keys so she's learning music.

I'm teaching her the piano - I'm finding this a very useful tool.

Yep I park them all on tech all day long.

I am so terrible that I allow them to do the homework that is set by their school online. I let them research on the Internet and shock horror I allow them to use the Internet for entertainment purposes. Like I do, hence posting on mumsnet.

And just to make it even worse, the older ones (14 and 15) have iPhones. And share an iPad. And have their own laptops in their bedrooms. Shoot me now.

Or, get a grip? Clearly, you use the Internet so it cannot be the horrific thing you are claiming it to be, can it?

Doubt OP will be back for awhile - she's probably out in the barn burning poppets and drowning witches!

My three (aged 5, 7 & 9) have supervised access to X-box, Kindle, my lap top, & the older two have second hand PCs (no web access) in their rooms for HW, games & dvd watching.

There is occasional stroppiness when dh or I decide they've had enough screen time. But then I used to kick off when my parents decided I'd had my nose stuck in a book too long...

But then I used to kick off when my parents decided I'd had my nose stuck in a book too long...

raven, are you Matilda? Why don't you watch some tv instead? All that reading can't be good for you

No defenisive guilty feelings for me.
I am totally happy in DD's use of technology.

I used technology a lot growing up, starting with a computer when I was 9 or 10y, back in the early 80s. Nothing like it is now, but hat was availale at the time.

Oh, mine take their's in their bedrooms too. They have SkyGo on their iPads and TVs and DVD players in their rooms.

I don't have to park them, they park themselves!

Do I feel guilty DD2 is glued to her lap top.
Hmm at her age I was devouring every Dick Francis I could lay my hands on and watching what ever was on TV.

Oh and thanks for bringing back very fond memories of Motor Mania (5minutes to load), frogger (7min) and the pirated motor cycle game you had to stop at just the right place fast forward and start again.

I live that DS 6 is so confident in his use of IT. Playing games, like loads of stuff for kids, is the corner stone of their learning. Exploring what that capabilities of a computer are, and what they can do with it can then be applied to school work.

Parental controls are, like all aspects of being a parent, something that need to be implemented and reviewed and occasionally used to penalise.

It's a changing world. If MN had existed in the 80's it would have been "if parents don't stop their kids listening to Walkmans they'll all be deaf as posts by 2013."

"It's a changing world. If MN had existed in the 80's it would have been "if parents don't stop their kids listening to Walkmans they'll all be deaf as posts by 2013.""

They might have had a point - I did have a Walkman, my hearing's very dodgy. (Might be more to do with all the LOUD gigs I went to though).

no defensiveness from me either I simply pointed out that if my DMIL had refused to allow my DH to play computer games as a child then he probably would not be doing what he is today (we're old enough to be from the era when you didn't get to use computers in school). And he likes what he does now.

If I was defensive it would be because I thought there was something wrong with letting kids use today's technology. But I don't. No defensiveness needed.

I agree with the notion that letting kids play candy crush or whatever all day does not necessarily teach them the ins and outs about technology. Ask a 12 year old what a 'peripheral' is, or the difference between ROM and RAM (basic techie stuff) and they'll most likely look at you like

This is because, as someone mentioned upthread, everything is becoming more and more user-friendly there just seems to be no need to know your shit when it comes to computers. People seem to think kids will be able to pass IT related exams with flying colours because their child has clear-cut access to tablets, iPhones and PCs, well they are wrong. To have a true understanding of computers that will serve you well in an academic context you need to know how they work and the terminologies involved. I would say that most of my actual useful knowledge about computers has come about in the past couple of years, despite the fact I have been using them since I was a small child.

If children are going to sit a GCSE IT exam, they are going to spend two years studying a GCSE IT syllabus, not just rock up and say 'oh, I've got an iPad, so I know how IT works'.

I've taught basic IT for years (to adults) - it's rare that any of them just turn up and sit the exams - they have to, y'know' study the subject first.

Ha ha so sorry to bang on... but to give my point more credibility, a couple of years ago when I was doing an admin course, there was a lady in my IT class who was in her 60s who had never used a computer before when we started, and she managed to get one of the best marks in the class (bearing in mind the majority of the class were in the 18-25 age range, who are the Windows/ Apple generation).

So it really doesn't matter. Okay, she probably can't touch type as well as people who have been using computers for years, but I only started doing that from the age of about 16 when I realised it was important re efficiency (I wanted to work in an office) ... I was a single-digit keyboard stabber before that

But you don't need to simply know how a computer works in terms of it's components, programming, memory etc to realise its potential.

You need to be able to visualise what it can do in terms of being developed to undertake surgical operations, support enormous businesses, communicate information. Playing with computers and being confident in their use and realising their creativity and potential is what children need to be successful in so many walks of life.

Angry birds today, who knows what tomorrow

Heartbrokenmum73 I agree, its just I don't understand why people say that their 4 year old playing on apps is good practice with technology and they are baffled when others (such as the OP) choose not to let their child do the same, as if they are depriving them of vital education?

The majority of my learners had never touched a computer before! We had a lot of pensioners who wanted to learn about word processing and email. Some of them had literally never turned on a pc before. It was always a joy to behold someone who had left school with no qualifications gain their Level 2 Diploma!

And one lovely little old lady who kept putting her square floppy disk into the round CD-shaped hole in the drawer - and closing it. Fetch the screwdrivers!

It's the OP's attitude that's bothering people Tracy (great name btw). Her whole 'technology is the work of the devil and you're all bad parents'. She started the thread simply to have a go at people who let their children use technology.

Yeah, that is basically what I am saying tracypenisbeaker.
And the point was relevant because it was in response to all the posters saying that kids learn so much from using tablets/windows packages.
It is just something I find interesting, that's all. And maybe I don't need to know how to service a car to drive one, but if it stalls, it does help to know how to get it moving again (based on basic knowledge of how a clutch works..)
Who is saying computers are BAD. No-one, as far as I can tell. A tool can't really be good or bad-it just is. It's how you use it that counts.