When did this start being normal?

Gemmy_2

I wasn't even allowed a CD player until i was 14.

I think its absolute madness. I couldn't believe it when my sister received a laptop for her birthday a year ago at the ripe old age of 11, and yes she also has a broadband/tv in her room - though they do have the parental control over the internet.

PasturesNew

A friend of mine was in an online chatroom and a girl turned up, with a webcam, and started being a nuisance and wanting to be friends with people .... and a couple of the guys persuaded her to flash her t1ts for them..... just as her dad walked in. They heard him shouting at her and everything before the connection was shut down.

Needy children WILL do things like this, to make friends, to be liked, because they're dim..... and it's a parent's responsibility to monitor Internet usage because it's full of weirdos and evil types who WILL want to see a teen girl's t1ts. Fact.

onetomany

omg this is gonna sound bad but both my boys have laptops, tv with freeview, oldest has ipod, youngest a mp3 play and they have a will /ps2 upstairs in their rooms and dsi(aged 8 and 14) my youngest also uses a laptop at school as he has problems writing but i dont feel bad as i limit there time and they both play outside lots still i think they learn alot on educational sites and both love there sport on tv i think the way forward is getting the balance right , and no i dont think they are spoilt

hitchins

Think it's crackers!! My friend has two girls, who have had pc's and broadband in their rooms since the age of 9! They even speak to one another via Facebook (from seperate rooms)!

Completely agree with Pastures New. The youngest child of above recently had some rather risque pics on her FB and some rather choice language, I alerted her mum, who at the time had no idea as the daughter had deleted her.

Ah well, as long as they're quiet and out ya hair! *insert rolls eyes smiley here*

BitterAndTwisted

I'm not a parent but I firmly believe that access to TV's, computers and game-consoles should be severely limited for the under 15s. I think it's very sad that so many young kids appear to be crouched on their own in their bedrooms when they really should be out of them interacting with others, even if it's mostly their family members for the majority of the time.

Of course back in the Dark Ages when I was a kid we didn't even have access to a radio in our bedrooms but then they weren't heated either so the attraction of spending time in there was nil.

hitchins

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'm not a parent but I firmly believe that access to TV's, computers and game-consoles should be severely limited for the under 15s. I think it's very sad that so many young kids appear to be crouched on their own in their bedrooms when they really should be out of them interacting with others, even if it's mostly their family members for the majority of the time.

Of course back in the Dark Ages when I was a kid we didn't even have access to a radio in our bedrooms but then they weren't heated either so the attraction of spending time in there was nil.

I got my telly when I was 16!! Although me and my brother did have a Spectrum, ah the good old days of bashing rubber keys!

LJM

my girls are 9 and 6 they are both very able on the computer but they are only allowed on them when either myself or hubby are there. they are not allowed facebook though they both play on moshi monsters and use google safe search when looking for info for school projects. we would never allow them to have one in their rooms or be on it without us around.

ontheroad_2

my daughter is 9, and she has a mobile phone, ipod, wii, ds, and laptop (oh and a telly in her room). she has bought at least half of that from her own birthday/christmas money, and she is not allowed to use the laptop out of our sight. no freeview/sky/broadband in her room, and not going to happen until she's an adult.
i do think its inappropriate for kids that age to be on computers unsupervised.

PasturesNew

hitchins wrote: »

I got my telly when I was 16!! Although me and my brother did have a Spectrum, ah the good old days of bashing rubber keys!

I think I win then. I got my first telly when I was 28 and had left home. It was a 2nd hand portable.

I am back at my parents again right now and - no TV. No aerial access, so I can't even buy a TV. Only option is to go and watch what they have on, which is a load of old rubbish and it's too loud (dad's deaf).

ecoelle

Does anyone else think that children may have problems with their handwriting *because* of using computers? Rather than seeing them as a help they might be what is holding them back. It's ok to say that they need ICT skills these days and i agree, but, all exams except ICT and possibly some technology classes require handwritten responses, plus filling in job applications. If children spent as much time practising their handwriting as they do playing games on computers do you think that maybe they would be better at writing?

Don't get me wrong there are some pieces of technology which i think are great and have their uses, but to be buying products like laptops games consoles for kids of 9 and putting them into their rooms you are just asking for your kids to become isolated. I saw a friend and her daughter communicating on their walls on a social network site the other day over what their days had been like, fine if they weren't in the same place but they were only in different rooms of the same house, i find it bizarre