Computer For a Child? 556
jameswing writes "I am thinking of buying a UMPC, such as an Eee PC or a Wind for my son, and wanted to get input from Slashdot. He is almost 2 and really curious about our computers, and anything electronic. I want to foster this in him, without having him on my desktop or laptop. I also don't really like the idea of getting one of those cheap 'Learning Laptops' that have a tiny screen and are really limited.
Does anybody have one that they use with their children? How sturdy is it? Will it stand up to a 2-year-old? If not, what are good alternatives?
What are your thoughts? Suggestions?"
Too early for a "real" PC (Score:3, Interesting)
I gave my 1½ YO daughter an old IBM Thinkpad from the late 90's. It's not useful for any real application, but it does run - and she can do whatever she wants with it, it's hers.
Thinkpads? (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't buy a new machine for the kid. (Score:5, Interesting)
My daughter who is almost 3 has been really interested in electronics as well. I picked up an old used laptop (I think it's a Pentium III 800 or something) that someone was giving away. I loaded it up with Debian and installed GCompris. She absolutely loves it - and GCompris is great. Problem is (like most kids her age) she picks it up to move it and drops it, tries to forcefully "integrate" her other toys with it, occasionally spills something on the keyboard... you know - normal 2 year old stuff.
Unless you've got the cash to not care about your kid wrecking and mucking the thing up in 6 months of use - I say load linux on an old used beater. The kid doesn't know the difference.
I have a 3 year old (Score:5, Interesting)
he says he's going to 'check his email' and sits down at the computer. i dont know where he got that from. not me, cause i never say something like 'ima check my email'
then he proceeds to remove keys from the keyboard. he's gotten quite good at this, even employing other objects as a lever to pop the keys off. i then find them scattered about the house, in his mouth, outside, in the toilet, in the refrigerator...
if you have a child of this age, the only computers that are going to stand up to them are made by fisher price etc.
i don't think it would be worth it until about 5 at the earliest
Re:Two is tough (Score:5, Interesting)
Before kids can read, any "conventional" gui (I don't care if it is KDE/Gnome/Windows/Mac) is both going to train the kids to ignore dialog boxes and/or drive parents to distraction with questions. That's why (in part) OLPC do the Sugar user interface: our target is kids who are in the process of learning to read.
It's also why the OLPC XO-1 is much, much more rugged than conventional laptops.
Some suggestions ... (Score:1, Interesting)
Some suggestions :
1. Crayons
2. Markers ( washable if your smart )
3. Read to him
4. Turn all screens off in his presence. Give him your attention, 100%
Re:Oh, get over yourself (Score:3, Interesting)
my son Jareth is also autistic. I gave him one of my own laptops when he was 4. no problems with a mouse, as it had a synaptic pad.
I set him up with a simple system - Ubuntu with KDE3 in Kiosk mode. he was locked down to a few simple tasks.
He spent most of the time browsing around the CBeeBies website or playing "BridgeBuilder-Game".
Eventually, though, I had to take the laptop off him - he got so engrossed in it that he would forgo food and the toilet in favour of getting his "fix" of the laptop.
I'll give him another laptop when he reaches six or so and is understanding that he is only allowed the machine for an hour or two at a time.
To the OP: just get a vtech or other similar machine. A real computer is just too much coolness for a 2-year-old to handle. You need to give them something that they can let go of after a few hours.
And to the "oh get over yourself" poster - grow up. This is the 21st century. In the 20th, kids grew up with lego. Now, it's computers. You don't need to be a "genius" to use a computer. Any kid can handle it if it's set up properly, so asking for hints about a laptop to give the kid does not imply that the kid is somehow gifted.
Re:Oh, get over yourself (Score:4, Interesting)
IBM Model M keyboard
Let him try and break it. I bet you could even vomit into those repeatedly without them needing much more than a wash to fix.
Re:Oh, get over yourself (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Oh, get over yourself (Score:3, Interesting)
My son took over my old eMac before turning age two. He is now 2.5 yrs old, he has basic command of the full UI. (Tiger 10.4.11)
he "cut his teeth" on several baby banger programs. He now uses over a dozen children's software apps, including the MacKiev suite (green eggs and ham, cat in the hat, etc), and LOVES tux paint, and his most recent acquisition is "Ollo at the Sunny Valley Fair.
He has a good understanding of the DVD interface, and explores all the games, extras, and other features of the DVD's. (He loves to turn on the closed captions while watching movies on the computer).
He knows how to shut it down, put it to sleep, turn the volume up and down, and subtract icons from the dock (he loves the little POOF they make as they disappear.)
We got him an old blue MacAlly keyboard (out of storage from work), it is virtually indestructible! He pounds on it, drops it, it has NEVER quit working, no keys have come off, works GREAT. Also gave him an old one button Apple mouse. He is too young for "right-click" and the one button mouse solves a lot of frustration.
He prefers the computer to the TV, hands down, every time. The computer is interactive, the TV is passive. He wants his "p'cuter"
Don't sell your children short, they tend to rise to whatever level we set for them.
(AND, his taking over my eMac gave us the excuse to get a new MacBook Pro, thanks son!)
Re:Oh, get over yourself (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Oh, get over yourself (Score:1, Interesting)
Tux Paint [tuxpaint.org] is a huge winner with my 3-year old. She gets a kick out of all the sounds the clipart images make, and spends a couple of hours drawing pictures of her favourite animals.
R U f*cking serious? (Score:2, Interesting)
HE IS 2 YEARS OLD FOR F*CK SAKES, THIS I WHAT'S WRONG WITH PARENTING TODAY...TV AND MACHINES DO NOT SUBSTITUTE PROPER CARE, NOR XBOX, NOR PS3.
He is 2 , he needs to learn to walk, even read if you can get him to understand letters.
I had taught my niece to count and do the alphabet phonetically by the age of 2. She may not
have known what it is, but by 3...letter association went very quickly, and by 3...could actually know what letters were which if you held out the letter, no matter which letter it was...by 4..she was
already writing her name, and understanding that letters make up whole words. In kindergarden, she was the first to read and write...I am sure it was not because we plunked down in front of a screen.
Sure, a kid can pop in a cd or dvd and watch his movie, or play his game at age of 3...but
the advantage comes at too great a loss, how many kids can't write or read properly for that matter.
Signatures are handwritten , yet I see so many people just use block letters to sign for something thinking that this is a signature, there is no association to writing skills any longer.
As well, how much vocabulary is being lost because kids of today, are strikingly going towards less is more, where abbreviations for everything seem to exist....lol,rofl,gtg,brb,owm, etc.. etc.
I am sorry for being too blunt about it, but kids should be outside playing being active, not becoming obese, in front of the screen learning to hack their parents credit cards, etc.