Have any of your 6 yr olds got their own laptop?

[LucyJones]

Or is it me who thinks it's completely unnecessary

and where do we stand on 6 yr olds and ds lites?

It is very sad-it takes away childhood. I think it needs to be a shared one in a public room. If they do have one I think it is important that it doesn't have internet access.

I need to buy laptop for dd2 aged almost 8 because she is very dyspraxic and cannot write very well; certainly not at the speed she can reason, so she has been recommended for touch typing and laptop use at school. She can't have mine for various reasons, lots of them sticky . I need wordshark and various other elements as well: it would be sad if her school friends then badgered their parents for one as well but they probably will....

I have a DS on which I play math games and DD has been playing Nintendogs and similar games on it since she was about 2.5.

It has been invaluable in keeping her entertained on the plane, for example.

Now she is 4.5 and she uses the laptop once in a while. Like today, her 5th day of incarceration at home due to chicken pox. She goes to games websites and plays Dora and Sponge Bob games, does artwork, plays music with Little Einsteins etc.

I don't see anything wrong with internet connection at this point, since she can't even read and write.

LOL @ "takes away childhood".

Not a wind up at all.

She hardly played on the DS. We bought it to keep her entertained on a longhaul flight and every so often she will play some games on there but isn't too bothered.

She loves the laptop though. Has all her favourite sites saved and can navigate through the web. She can edit photos, print things etc. Not bad for a pre-schooler.

That's intersting fanjo, a DS at 2? How close to being 3 was she when she got it? My 2 year old is only just getting interested in watching ITNG on TV and playing with his Postman Pat play laptop.

DD has always had access to a computer (she's 6 now) but I'm not considering getting her her own lappy until she actually needs it.

Laptop or pc -- as far as usage goes what's the difference.

But one should be careful for health reasons I would have thought.

Eve, she was 2yrs 8 months. Just games that involved things like feeding bunnies, washing dogs etc.

Own/don't own - laptop/desktop - it makes little difference - what matters is time spent, content explored and supervision applied.

How on earth does a laptop "take away childhood?" The mind boggles as to how this could occur.

PMSL @ suggestion of taking away childhood. You do realise that computer skills will be a key determinator of your children's success at school, don't you? Our local primary school gives each child a laptop in Year 1.

And we have given her her own laptop for safety's sake. I click on far too many dodgy links though MN that I can't risk her using mine

Riven great post I agree

"I think it needs to be a shared one in a public room."

But we don't have a shared computer, so that is not an option. I have my laptop and for various reasons I have decided that that computer is not for DD to use. Therefore I chose for my DD to have her own laptop to use. I could pretend that hat netbook is for shared use if it makes people feel less concerned about it - and to be fair, I do use it on occassons, and we do take it on holiday and I use it for downloading our photos each day on holiday or using the wireless whenn away sometimes. But in reality it belongs to 7y DD. She is an only child, so there is noone else really to share it with, so it is her own. Can't personally see the difference with that and a family PC in the living room - she'd still be the only person using it after all.

Ds(3) and dd(6) both use our family pc and we have a Wii. Dd is really good on the pc, only uses Ccbeebies or nickJr. Ds is terrible though and loves going on FB as well as CBeebies and NickJr and has caused so many problems we've had to reinstal the computer twice since he's been allowed on. We still wouldn't buy them their own laptop though or give them their own FB pages despite their constant requests because we think they are too young.

DS is 3 and, although he doesn't own his own laptop, he does have exclusive use of an old laptop. That's solely because DH works in IT and we have more laptops than rooms.

DS loves it, he uses it to play games, usually cbeebies (though any good links would be great) and I think it only does him good. It's better than sitting in front of the telly anyway.

Of course it isn't necessary, no more than getting a 101 soft toys is necessary when they're born, but I think it's great for him to get his confidence and skills up. He loves Alpha Blocks and Number Jacks and it makes learning so much fun. Nothing wrong with fun during childhood, is there?

Was completely shocked when I read the OP & some of this thread but then having thought about it, I remember being 3/4 years old and playing Chucky Egg on Dads BBC & other games on the Spectrum for some years later - it helped a lot with my left and right hands co-ordination.

We didn't have internet then though, I'll have to have a good think about this when the time comes, - how technology has changed!!

Chucky egg was good though!

My DD (6), has her own netbook (which she paid for herself) and which she uses mostly for school work, but also for going on Cbeebies.

DD is quite academic (she is G&T at school, so bright, but not amazingly so) and she often likes to find out more about the projects she studies in school. We struggle to find age appropriate books for her. I do have a collection of non-fiction books at home which she uses, but our local library is a mobile van which comes once a week, and actually is quite dire. So save buying tons of books, the internet serves quite well. For example, recently, she was doing a project on India. We had one book on this at home, and no library visit for 5 days. So we found a school website on India, and DD spend a good half hour reading through it and learning new things about India and Indian people.

Furthermore, she most frequently uses her laptop whilst sat next to me and I'm working on my work laptop. Our Desktop is in the study, away from the rest of the house and I didn't want her to use DHs very expensive Apple Mac where she couldn't be supervised, so that is why we got her her own laptop.

Incidentally, she is also a talented Gymnast (trains 4 1/2 hours a week), so I have no concerns over her posture, and as she is G&T, I also have no concerns that it will make her unable to read books.

I think every child and every situation is different. Whilst a laptop might not be appropriate for your child, in your situation that does not mean that it is not appropriate for another child. Every situation is different.

dd's friends mum was discussing the idea of them buying a laptop for their dd who is 6... OTT imo, I do see what a 6yr old would need a laptop for. They have a laptop already in the home and tbh I just see it as an opportunity to allow them peace and quite while the lo surfs the net.

Yeah, they say it will only be used for ceebeebies, but imo why not sit with them on your own laptop...

I would say secondary school age is an age to invest in one but no sooner...

'takes away childhood' was a silly thing to say! I just really meant they should be playing outside, getting muddy, reading books, building lego etc most of the time. I can see a lot of point in not having them on the main computer-so will change my mind. I still think that they should use it in a public place and it be strictly monitored.You should know exactly what they have been on and they should know that you will view their web history every day and it should have strict parental controls. I wouldn't be keen on them being in their bedroom and not knowing what they were doing.

I just really meant they should be playing outside, getting muddy, reading books, building lego etc most of the time.

DD does that much more so than she goes on her laptop. Having the laptop is just one extra thing to chose from, but it is by no means the one she does most.

I reckon singing and dancing to the music in her room, singing into some microphone, making up dance routines and rewriting lyrics to songs is what she does most - both with friends and on her own.

to the poster that asked about good sites for children, have you tried Poisson Rouge?

My 5y old loves it www.poissonrouge.com

My DD is ten and a half and kept going on about having a laptop since she turned nine.

So as to encourage her to appreciate and look after such an expensive piece of equipment, we told her that if she wanted a laptop, she would have to save up for one herself.

Give the kid some credit, she saved for two birthdays and two Christmases. We opened an account for her and she paid her savings into it. Even after she had saved enough, she was sensible enough to understand that, if she waited until after Christmas, she would get a bargain in the sales (which she did).

I did stress to her that daily laptop time would be limited and that she would only be allowed to use it in the presence of DH or myself.

She uses it for homework, games and to e-mail her aunty in Australia. She does not use it every day but has looked after it better than anything else she has ever owned, probably because she had to save for so long.

If your child wants a laptop, then I would seriously encourage them to start saving towards it - it will soon become clear whether they really want one or not!

See fanjolina if I bought a 2yo a £100 toy and she "hardly played with it" I would be a bit fed up tbh.

I think the problem for a lot of us (me anyway) is that £300 is a lot of money to spend on a child's toy.

Well it is in this house. But we have 3 DC and one wage (atm). I guess if you've got the dough, spend it!

I think actually most of us agree that it is fine for a child to have (supervised, restricted etc) access to the computer and internet for all sorts of reasons.

Some of us choose to do that by buying said child a laptop. Others use the family PC, maybe for cost reasons, maybe because that's easier. It's all OK

We all have laptops in my house, DS1 is 8 and DS2 is 5. I work in IT and I want the computer to be part of their lives, it's an essential skill.

DS2 got one for his 5th birthday it's a 'Toughbook' which is one of those laptops in a steel case that you can drive a car over so that if when he drops it, it won't break. It was 80 quid. He plays on Cbeebies, he types in notepad when as he's learning to write, he paints in paintbrush and learns to use the mouse.

DS1 saved his Christmas and birthday money and I put some towards a new Dell, but it was a scratched and dented one (not that we could find it) so was loads cheaper.

I supervise both of them, all the parental controls are in place and I'm very comfortable with the amount of time they spend. Sometimes DS1 spends an hour or two because he's playing a game, and sometimes he doesn't use it all.

I wanted to introduce them young so that it wasn't viewed as a 'treat' to use the computer, I actually want them to view it as something they take for granted, and so far it's working just fine.

None of my dc's have their own computer, but as a family we have a few. They have to ask, so we can keep it under control. However I think that computers are a great tool, all dc's know how to look things up and we encourage them to do this when they ask.

DD1 may well get her own laptop next year which is when she starts secondary school.

They also have their own ds's - which are mostly used for long car journeys etc. I think it's great fun to hear them all racing each other on Mario Kart and so much better than car journeys when I was a child.