Is 6 too young to have your own PC?

[Sihastru]

Sorry, I don't agree with you guys. 6 is not the age you should give your child a PC. I think it can limit her growth as an adult later in life, because you are now pushing her towards IT. Who's to say she wouldn't be an artist, a musician, an athlete or anything else.

6 is a time for silly friendships, riding you bicycle, playing in the park, eating healthy and nagging your parents with life altering decisions, like a pink pony. Girls want unicorns and princesses, that don't come with QPI and tri-channel DDR3. They do sometimes come with water cooling, but that's another story...

I know it's a fine line between pushing your child into something or making him/her believe they want to do something. It's good to have access to the educational part of IT, but what this does is substituting real friends and her parents with the cold cathode light of the LCD.

Around 12 or 14, if she's into it, and asked for a laptop or a PC for about 2-3 years before, then yes, go ahead.

I know children that had their own PC at a very young age, and they a dumb as a door knob, all they know is how to turn it on or off and how to play GTA4. They are doing bad in school and they are doing bad in life in general. I know their parents, I know they had good intentions, but sometimes you don't have time to watch your children all the time, and all it takes is a moment and they are lost to the world.

Children don't want a PC for Microsoft Excel or Adobe Photoshop, the "educational" software gets old after one or two weeks, the "educational" games don't have enough blood and gore to satisfy them. Games is what attracts them, the bad kind of games.

Creativity can be explored the old fashioned way, with crayons and paper and sand castles. Even LEGO is good. For girls, dolls are somehow better then LEGO. For children it is important to touch, smell and hear their creation not just click and see. And they need to be with someone that loves them when they are doing these things. Parents get tired after a time, they still love their children more then life itself, but they feel the need to disconnect. Giving a PC to their child is the easy way out for them.

I'm not saying all this applies in this case, I'm just saying that the danger is there and it's easy to fall.

 

[PeterStoba]

I think you've missed Jim's point completetely

 

[JN]

Whoa Sihastru I have to say that even though I'm not 100% sure on whether giving a PC to a 6yr old is correct (hence the thread), your views are quite extremist.

Sorry, I don't agree with you guys. 6 is not the age you should give your child a PC. I think it can limit her growth as an adult later in life, because you are now pushing her towards IT. Who's to say she wouldn't be an artist, a musician, an athlete or anything else.

6 is a time for silly friendships, riding you bicycle, playing in the park, eating healthy and nagging your parents with life altering decisions, like a pink pony. Girls want unicorns and princesses, that don't come with QPI and tri-channel DDR3. They do sometimes come with water cooling, but that's another story...

This would only apply IMO if you left the child completely unmonitored all day in front of a PC screen. This is something that will never happen (1hr/2hrs max a day). The PC would only be used as an educational tool in addition to the normal methods and despite all the jokes about forcing our kids to grow up like us, I think everyone here will agree they'd probably want the opposite.

I know it's a fine line between pushing your child into something or making him/her believe they want to do something. It's good to have access to the educational part of IT, but what this does is substituting real friends and her parents with the cold cathode light of the LCD.

Around 12 or 14, if she's into it, and asked for a laptop or a PC for about 2-3 years before, then yes, go ahead.

I think if you leave it till they are 14 then they have pretty much missed out on a huge part of education. I was about that age when I started using a PC...and then the Internet as we know it had barely been invented lol.

I know children that had their own PC at a very young age, and they a dumb as a door knob, all they know is how to turn it on or off and how to play GTA4. They are doing bad in school and they are doing bad in life in general. I know their parents, I know they had good intentions, but sometimes you don't have time to watch your children all the time, and all it takes is a moment and they are lost to the world.

Children don't want a PC for Microsoft Excel or Adobe Photoshop, the "educational" software gets old after one or two weeks, the "educational" games don't have enough blood and gore to satisfy them. Games is what attracts them, the bad kind of games.

Giving GTA4 to a child is EXTREMELY irresponsible. If i knew anybody who had given a game like that to a youngster anywhere near in the age range I'm talking about I'd probably report them to social services.

Creativity can be explored the old fashioned way, with crayons and paper and sand castles. Even LEGO is good. For girls, dolls are somehow better then LEGO. For children it is important to touch, smell and hear their creation not just click and see. And they need to be with someone that loves them when they are doing these things. Parents get tired after a time, they still love their children more then life itself, but they feel the need to disconnect. Giving a PC to their child is the easy way out for them.

I'm not saying all this applies in this case, I'm just saying that the danger is there and it's easy to fall.

I agree, a PC can never substitute for real life experience. However, in a world that is becoming more and more dominated by PC's and basic requirements of almost everything are being able to use one, do you not think it is a good idea to give your child a head-start in a fun and educational way?

 

[Diablo]

Our family got a pc back in '96, which was when I was 5. I was allowed pretty much free reign on it, and once I had my first run in with internet history and "bad websites", I never went on that sort of thing again (at least not for quite a few years).

Its a great idea to have a pc, especially with a few basic eductational programs, and ms paint or similar.

The PC won't take away from normal things that she'll do, especially with no internet. I might be tempted to not have the pc in her room, just so that it does limit the amount of time she spends on it, and so that there is supervision if she needs it.

I think not allowing her the internet at this age is a good idea, in that she can ask an adult and use it in a supervised way if she needs it.

Its very useful to be able to use a computer well, and certainly by the end of primary school, you could tell which kids had access to a computer and which didn't which obviosuly helped once they got in secondary school and started to use them more.

 

[nathan]

I know children that had their own PC at a very young age, and they a dumb as a door knob, all they know is how to turn it on or off and how to play GTA4. They are doing bad in school and they are doing bad in life in general. I know their parents, I know they had good intentions, but sometimes you don't have time to watch your children all the time, and all it takes is a moment and they are lost to the world.

But i know a few children who had pcs at a young age and are excelling in both educational and social skills. My neice is now 9, she can read at the same level as a 20 year old, yet she's had a pc from a young age. Your comments are as bad as certain MP's blaming violence on video games. i dont hear those MP's moan about things like paint balling which is alot closer to running into a school shooting away than counterstrike.

i think your getting close to parenting skills. Nothing to do with the PC. If you dont have time to watch your kids, you take the power lead from the PC etc.

I think Jim was wondering if the pc would make a good addition to her life, not a subsitution.

 

[Talonaer]

i had a pc at age 5, and now on my way to be a doctor, i played county level cricket,fell out trees, and spent far more time outside than 99% of kids these days and dont consider myself either a moron or pyschopath..

only thing that ever went wrong was rining up a £70 phone bill in one month playing close combat 2 online at age 13 or so on dial up

 

[FarFarAway]

Yeah I had a PC all the way from when the first IBM's appeared as my Mum used them in school and she had one at home. I've got a Degree from UCL and am an IT Consultant, having also played semi-pro football and a variety of other sports at County Level. Same as above I was outside for most of my childhood, but spent time on the PC when I wanted to. Oh and I'm certainly not socially inept either, thank you very much

 

[Kylevdm]

I have had my own pc in my room since I was 4, this was with no restrictions on time limits etc, although I did not have internet at the time (there was only dial up in South Africa). At the age of 7 I started playing C&C with my dad over the internet, we used the same profile and I played during the day and he played at night. I have been into internet gaming ever since. I have played CSS with some of the best, and Sihastru this has not "limited my growth in anyway." If anything I have got more friends from round the world then I do in Edinburgh. Sure I did spend a loads of time doing other things, my school made us do a sport everyday for 2 hours. However as much as I did/ do play games, I learnt how to fix PCs and with the internet, encarta and the likes used it as much as a educational tool as a "toy".

It really depends on the personalty of your daughter. My parents trusted me to use my computer unattended from a young age and it has stayed like that.

EDIT also Sihastru I am in no way as dumb as a door nail! I am busy doing Advanced Higher Maths, and Physics and going to do a MInf!

 

[Diablo]

Quite, a computer can be pretty helpful, learning how to use a mouse and keybaord are important skills (especially today and in the future), in addition, I spent a good amount of time using ms paint to draw and do other kid type activities.

If Sihastru is right and I am as "dumb as a door nail", it makes me think that Oxford must have fallen a long way, rather than being the best uni in the country.

 

[Bungral]

Hermit!

Yeah I had a PC all the way from when the first IBM's appeared as my Mum used them in school and she had one at home. I've got a Degree from UCL and am an IT Consultant, having also played semi-pro football and a variety of other sports at County Level. Same as above I was outside for most of my childhood, but spent time on the PC when I wanted to. Oh and I'm certainly not socially inept either, thank you very much

 

[Sihastru]

Whoa Sihastru I have to say that even though I'm not 100% sure on whether giving a PC to a 6yr old is correct (hence the thread), your views are quite extremist.

Well, I know, but I needed to be since everyone is agreeing to the idea that 6 is not too young. If 200 people start throwing rocks at you, you'd better have a tank... and a light saber .

I do have another small point to add, yes most of us had access to computers from a very young age, but consider the timeline a little bit. It was 10-20 or more years ago, we lived in a different world, with a different Internet (or no Internet), we had sinclairs, zx spectrums and amigas, monochrome screens with 8 bit graphics, we played Tetris and Mud. Blood and gore were expressed by a text line... "Your enemy is dead."

I agree it is a requirement to have the skills, but you don't exactly need them at the age of 6. The learning curve is steep, in about one or two years one can become quite the expert if the need arrives.

I mean, my job is as a computer programmer in an ERP specialized firm. Computers are my life. But there are days, where everything turns against me and I wish that I was somewhere else, doing something else. The point is, if you "push" her now in that direction she might regret it later... There are other jobs out there that don't require so much computer skills that you need 15 years in front of a screen to prepare for them, and in 10-20 years from now, the world will be different again.

I can see that your mind is settled, all you have to do is keep an eye on her and what she does with that PC, and maybe cut her a little slack and allow her to choose in the near future.

We don't know eachother at all, so it is very pretentious of me to continue giving advice. The parent always knows what's best for their own child. There is no right or wrong answer to your question. There is only potential for good things or for bad things to happen. It all depends your guidance.

 

[Sihastru]

i think your getting close to parenting skills. Nothing to do with the PC. If you dont have time to watch your kids, you take the power lead from the PC etc.

I think Jim was wondering if the pc would make a good addition to her life, not a subsitution.

I am not talking about who Jim is. I don't know Jim at all. I am in no way qualified to give him any advice. This is just me, expressing my opinion. Being an open forum and all that.

I don't blame Couter Strike for the violent behavior of some people, I play Counter Strike (I think for about 8 or 9 years now), and I haven't shot anyone... yet.

I am just playing good cop - bad cop. I am the voice o reason or I am trying to be. When you guys make a review on the site, at the end you submit "the good" and "the bad". I am now submitting "the potentially bad". You guys got "the good" covered.

also Sihastru I am in no way as dumb as a door nail! I am busy doing Advanced Higher Maths, and Physics and going to do a MInf!

You are not the exact person I used to exemplify the horror. My comment was in now way directed towards any of the people on this forum. I myself am a child of the microprocessor and I turned up allright. I'm no mad scientist, but I am doing ok. My social skills need constant improvement but I'm getting there...

 

[Diablo]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the last paragraph, it all depends how she is going to be allowed to use it. If she's supervised then its fine.

TBH, I grew up with increasingly good graphics, for example, a game I got when I was about 8 or 9 was called Drakan, had some quite goretastic gibbing. Maybe this did affect me, I am most of the way to being a mad scientist, have enough social anxiety to keep drug companies in buisness for the rest of time. But I'm pretty sure none of this is actually due to the computer, and much more due to everything else.

Although, just for a laugh if someone does commit arson, can you blame it on all the spyro the dragan you played on the old playstation?

 

[Rastalovich]

There's always the argument for content on the computer. Games particularly with clearly marked age limits on the purchased for those below those ages, the arguments either side of doing that I leave up to parents. They 'should' be the ones testing the content of these things, but we know these kinds of things rarely happen as pre 18s listen to alot of parental-guidance music - there is little or no guidance there. It makes me hard to crusade for my belief in zero censorship as I would boast along with that that kids don't work, they don't have a salary, they can't/shouldn't buy these things themselves. Then a parent get's these things for them and it blows the whole thing out.

As far as bad content, it's always existed, even so much as being in text form. A classic example was the 'game' Sweet Sexteen, the aim of the game was very in question, and to be fair u couldn't buy it, u would have to either download it on ur 400 baud or know some1 who had. But there were alot of others like it, just not in main circulation, as with alot of things at that time. There were muds, bbs, plenty of chat - but again it wasn't on a platform that was freely available to everyone. Jeez I can remember 4 way conference calls at 2am with people from all over the world due to some phreaker.

These things happen and always will happen, I mean there's a game that's banned from the US made in Japan that is similar to the game above, only we are ofc in the 21st century and the characters are modeled - very well modeled.

But I do feel that presenting a pc, or computer, to a child at any age, is there just as u would give them a glorified calculator and a pile of all the encyclopedia's without indexes.

From my own experience, I would keep ALL internet contact under supervision, non internet I would care less about - experience here of stuff like Office, painting packages even handling photos and printing are priceless. The majority of jobs in 10 years time will be computer based, I was gonna say something alot more advanced than we have now, but I wouldn't bet my house on it the way tech has ground to a halt.