What To Load On a 4-Year-Old's Netbook? 742
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samzenpus
from the besides-plants-vs.-zombies dept.
from the besides-plants-vs.-zombies dept.
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?"
Zoodles (Score:2, Informative)
Start with a good hosts file (Score:3, Informative)
Edubuntu (Score:2, Informative)
How about the OLPC/Sugar system? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Informative)
My dad gave my two year old son a soccer ball last month, he threw it down the stairs and grabbed my mom's iPhone. Kids aren't born with blank slates, they have natural inclinations. You can fight those inclinations, and the children, but all you end up doing is screwing them up. If the kid has an inclination towards gadgetry, support him.
Certainly as parents we will have to force our kids to recognize the need for physical fitness (just like brushing teeth, hands and household chores), and chase after them to make sure they get enough exercise, but that's just parenting.
Re:Regardless (Score:1, Informative)
I can think of a few pictures that might traumatize a 4 year old.
If you think titties are all the Internet has to offer, I don't know what to tell you.
Re:Regardless (Score:5, Informative)
If you just want casual filtering, I would recommend OpenDNS. Just set your DNS server to 208.67.222.123, and it will quietly block porn, malware and warez sites. I haven't found many false positives either. It won't catch everything, but if you want to delay teaching your kid about such things until he's mature enough to understand it, it works well enough.
As for productivity software, try letting the kid loose on Blender. Open-source 3d modelling/rendering program. Might be a bit slow on netbooks, but if the kid's creative, he'll find something to do with it.
Re:Regardless (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Informative)
By 4, most kids are ready to move onto the real thing. Duplo is for 1, 2 and 3 year olds who like to put things in their mouths and might choke on Lego, and aren't yet fully in control of their limbs so need the bigger size and tolerences of Duplo to avoid frustration.
Re:LOLWHAT?!?! You posted your add. and #?!? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Informative)
Scratch (Score:4, Informative)
While Scratch [mit.edu] is geared towards 6 - 16 year olds, it may be worth a look.
Re:Regardless (Score:3, Informative)
I use Dans Guardian as a content filter and they HATE it LOL
I love the filter though and have been using it for many years. It has a wonderful where I can adjust the level of filtering based on the average age of those going through the filter. Naturally you can add certain IPs to not go though it.
Thankfully they have found no way to bypass it YET
Re:Regardless (Score:2, Informative)
When I was 10, I was making elaborate 3D models in a modeler called Form-Z, and, while I like to think I'm pretty smart, I don't think that it was that hard. Kids from like 8 to 12 have an incredible ability to hyperconcentrate on cool things like that.
When I was five, I was using a mouse to make drawings in KidPix. I don't think it is that unreasonable to expect a four year old to have a lot of fun with blender. And you are vastly underestimating them if you think they can't use a mouse.
How about... (Score:2, Informative)
Maybe buy him a baseball glove or a frisbee- something to spur activity and interaction with others. If he's a tech genius, the last thing he needs is a computer- he's already mastered that.
Call your local homeless shelter or charity. Maybe they could use your netbook to get someone on their feet again.
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Informative)
By the time I was twelve, I was in charge of the house for the day during the summer while my mom was at work - I had to stay home and babysit my six-year-old sister. And make her lunch for her. It was no big deal.
Re:Regardless (Score:3, Informative)
As for the "fear of the boobies", I tend to agree, and have never restricted my child from seeing nudity. I don't put porn in front of him, and at 6, he hasn't gone looking for it. Naked people just don't faze him though. He does understand that there are appropriate times to be naked, and inappropriate times. While he was figuring it out, there were many times that he would ask if something on tv was inappropriate or not, and where he could run around in his underwear, and where he could not.
That being said, the idea that violence is OK to see, and sex is not OK, isn't entirely crazy. Violence is a natural human urge that we learn to control so that we can live in and have the benefit of society. This urge is displayed in children from pretty much as soon as they are mobile enough to bang things together. If not taught about violence, a child will be vicious by the age of 2. The urge for sex on the other hand is something that most humans don't start to feel until they become adults, generally between the ages of 8 and 15. 13 being the classic age that many cultures across the planet recognize as being average.
One of the big problems is that our culture doesn't recognize the difference between nudity and sex. Nudity is something that is perfectly normal for prepubescent kids. Sex, not so much. Our screwed up culture has this backwards. You can't have a naked woman on TV, or even worse, a naked man, but you can have anthropomorphizing characters performing auto-fellatio in Shrek 2, and Man/Dozen woman orgies in Happy Feet, and people that would be horrified by a naked body are perfectly happy.
Even more bizarre than no nudity unless it has a knife in it, is the idea that nudity is bad for children, but tranny jokes, and giving oneself oral in the town square and huge orgies are good clean kiddie fun.
Re:Regardless (Score:1, Informative)
I strongly agree with the edubuntu approach. My daughters laptop has it and I was amazed at the things and danes she found on it. They are designed for teaching while playing and are loads of fun.
It doesn't conflict with her outdoor activities as long as we don't allow it to.
Re:Regardless (Score:1, Informative)
Agreed. My son has been using edubuntu since he was five. He works that machine like nobody's business. He does have access to youtube, but spends his time there looking for hints on how to beat the "boss" on Super Mario Galaxy 2. Funny, I didn't show him how to do that. Heck, I didn't even think of it! Either someone at school told him, or he figured it out on his own.
Re:Regardless (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Informative)
Absolutely agree. I wouldn't let my 5-year-old wander alone, but I have no problem letting my 2 7-year-olds, my 6-year-old, and my 5-year-old (blended family) walk home from the bus, maybe 1/2 mile.