What To Load On a 4-Year-Old's Netbook? 742
nostrodecus writes "I have a nephew who is very young, but who has the techie gene — he found the Gruffalo on YouTube before anyone knew he could spell. Now he's almost 4, and I was thinking of giving him my netbook (Acer running XP), which I hardly use any more. So, of course, I will be deleting all the porn, but what should I load up on it? Are there tools/apps that I can load up on it to protect it and him from things he shouldn't see until college? Also, what apps or games could I load on it that a 4-year-old will get some use out of?"
Obvious? (Score:1, Funny)
An undelete utility.
Re:Huh? (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, why would you encourage him towards a life of living in his mom's basement, fighting brain-dead management, and with a computer as a girlfriend.
Oh, is that just me?
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
Because taking apart a screwdriver is such an enriching experience.
Re:Regardless (Score:5, Funny)
I'm going to agree.
My 5 year old has his own account on the Vista machine at home. He knows how to load up Chrome. He has accounts on Youtube and Netflix and can watch what he wants whenever he wants.
It keeps him occupied for hours at a stretch. It really frees me up to go shopping and other things that would have been tough with him along.
Re:Huh? (Score:1, Funny)
Oh, is that just me?
Nope, not just you.
FreeDOS (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
I'd love for you to try it.
Number One Observatory Circle
3450 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington, DC 20007
202-762-1489
Ask for Joe.
Re:Regardless (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Regardless (Score:1, Funny)
Regardless of what you install there's no guaranteed way to stop your kid from stumbling upon boobs on the internet. Plus who's to say it's something to worry about at all. They certainly didn't traumatize me.
Are you sure? I mean, you post on Slashdot.
Re:Regardless (Score:2, Funny)
A 4 year old should have no interest in boobs and flee from them should they be encountered.
This isn't really true. My kid is 5 and he loves boobs. Since his mom died, our neighbor comes over once a day to breastfeed him (and has since she passed away when he was 2).
He sees boobs on the internet sometimes but it doesn't faze him at all. He isn't looking for that. He'd rather watch Thomas the Tank Engine or Jungle Junction.
But it's definitely not something he flees from. If anything, it probably just makes him hungry.
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Funny)
Give him a damn baseball or something, the last thing he needs in his formative years is to vegetate in front of a screen.
My kid learned to read the spell lists in Oblivion at the age of three, how is yours doing with the baseball?
He can spell "spalding". He can almost spell "ambulance", but he keeps doing it backward.
Re:Regardless (Score:3, Funny)
It's too late. If you don't start them training with Blender before they can speak they'll never be able to master the interface.
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Funny)
Pics or it didn't happen.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
According to a study performed by the universities of Dublin and Warsaw, sterility is genetic. If your parents don't have any children, chances are you won't either.