[geeks] Kids and computers...

[bill pointon]

my kids have always had their own computers from the time that they 
could sit up in front of it on their own -- usually my main system would 
go to the oldest and the trickle down effect would follow -- starting 
when the oldest was born in 78 - i and my three sons - no reference to 
the show - have gone from a ti99-4/a through an apple IIe  - an ibm pc - 
286 clone - ast  386 - 486 clones - pentiums - etc ------ but they 
always had their own systems to use and mess up with games -- then come 
to me to help fix them up again --- of course pete - im an old fart 
compared to most of the listians -- billp

On Tuesday, February 19, 2002, at 10:56 , Peter L. Wargo wrote:

> I spent a good chunk of time last night on the pne with my sister in 
> NY.  One of her sons had installed AOL Instant Messager on their iMac, 
> and had roasted it but good.  He thought that there wasn't enough room 
> (untrue!) so he trashed a goodly amount of stuff.  We finally gave up 
> and reloaded from the restore cd, wiping everything out.
>
> I think I've convinced her that her idea to buy an iBook is a good 
> one.  Then, she has a 'puter that she can keep her stuff on, and the 
> kids can't touch.  Plus, if they f**k up the one they are using, THEY 
> have to learn to fix it.  If they can't, then they need to learn to 
> read a manual. :-)
>
> This incident brights to light something I've said many a time to 
> people: Why do you let your kids use your computer?  I had a co-worker 
> who really wanted a Mac, but was worried that the kids couldn't 
> continue to sign out games from the library and run them at home.  I 
> told him that was GREAT!  Get 'em a playstation!
>
> It's funny how parents today seem to be afraid to tell their kids: 
> "This is mine, you cannot play with it."  My folks had stuff that was 
> hands-off to us kids, and we knew the results if we violated that 
> rule.  Now, as grandparents, my folks have told the grandkids: "No, you 
> cannot play on our computer.  We use it for work (they do genealogy, as 
> well as other stuff), so it is not a toy."
>
> I'd be interested to see how those of you with kids handle the 
> situation at your home.
>
> -Pete
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