Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion What age for their own computer?

DH and I are having a discussion about what age would be appropriate for a small netbook, with lots of parental controls in place of course.

We have a computer for family use in the family room, with a big enough screen that anyone in the room can see what's going on. Feels safer than a laptop to us.

(It has the side benefit that we use the internet instead of cable TV.)

DeeDee

Our son was just given a laptop from his grandfather who upgraded to a new one. We have a ton of controls on it, and keep a close eye on him ( plus the battery no longer works so he can't roam with it ). He is turning 8 next week. I believe as long as it is regulated and not overused, it is good to get practice with typing and other types of learning one can do online.

DS8 got his own computer this year, a desktop in the kitchen.

If you aren't averse to it, I would suggest a Mac of some sort because you don't even have to worry about virus protection that way -- Macs are far less likely to pick up a virus from the sorts of things that kids download.

We started with a Mac Mini that my work was upgrading from, but it had an unfortunate little-sister accident, so he's just got a regular PC now. I have no doubt that one too many Mario screensavers or Tetris demos will cause us to have to wipe it from time to time.

our boys have had their own computer since our ds 6 was 3.5. Our yds is 4.5 and they both do great. We have had issues with youtube videos,but other than that they have both done very well.

Recommended: download Mozilla firefox then download Kidzui. It's free! It has all of the web a child needs. It has access to commercial kidsites, so the kidsites that require paid subscription will still need a paid subscription. Warning! My kid took over my computer. I had to e-mail the tech support to install it, but haven't had problems with it since.

This doesn't really answer OP's question about "what age," but I did want to pass along some advice. I attended an internet safety seminar at dd's school and the material the police detective shared disturbed me deeply. I will spare you the details, but I do clearly remember him saying at the end, "If you take one thing away from this, please never ever let your children have a computer with Internet access in their room. Even with parental controls. It's like giving an 8 year old or a 13 year old access to the Las Vegas strip and asking them to use good judgement and not explore."

He also made the point that even when kids accidentally find themselves on some of these sites (spelling errors, typing .com instead of .org) the visuals can really impact them because kids are just beginning to understand things like sexuality.

It certainly made us rethink our views on computers for the kids. We plan to make do with the family desktop in a central location for as long as possible.

Of course, ymmv.

We got DS a netbook when he was about 4. Mostly so that we didn't have to fight over who was using "my" computer, or things being out of place on my desk after he had used it, etc. At that point he didn't really know enough to explore beyond his favorite websites I had bookmarked for him, so it wasn't much of an issue. Now he has learned to do web searches and sneaks onto my computer to create things in word and use the printer. I think DH is in need/want of an upgrade to his laptop soon and at that point we will purge the old machine and put all the kid safe stuff on it.

Thanks for the replies!


I actually have an iMac, and love it, and fear for it's life. . It's in our office, and ds can only use it when my dh is also in the office.


It's working out fine, but I thought it may be nice for him to have his own netbook, he could sit with me on the couch, or sit at the kitchen table while I'm cooking, etc. He definitely would not be able to have it in his room alone.


He turns 5 in the fall.

This is a great reminder, thank you!