How do you get your child interested in computers?

[sunee]

I don't see any reason to thrust computers upon little kids. They'll get it when they're ready for it. And I think it is much better for kids to play. That's just MHO.

 

[Aidensmom]

Maybe get him a computer baseball game? Not educational at this point, but maybe if he has fun playing "ball" on a rainy day, it'll make the computer seem more attractive later.

That is actually a good idea, thanks!

 

[Aidensmom]

How old is he? If he isn't in middle school or high school, I can't even believe the teacher suggested that he needed to improve his computer skills. I wish my DS wasn't so interested. Computers are a major part of our life though. DH has his own computer consultant business, and we have several computers at home. However, reading, running, socializing and imaginative play are much more important than any computer skills children can learn. I would really be interested in finding out what the teacher was thinking.

He just finished kindergarten today.

They use the computers a lot at his school, maybe they are more focused on that than other schools, I don't know. I don't think they expect him to know how to write formulas in Excel or anything but they do want the kids to know how to turn on the computer, open a program, use the mouse, etc.

 

[Bob Slydell]

He just finished kindergarten today.

They use the computers a lot at his school, maybe they are more focused on that than other schools, I don't know. I don't think they expect him to know how to write formulas in Excel or anything but they do want the kids to know how to turn on the computer, open a program, use the mouse, etc.

Did they have computer class in his kindergarten? Cam's class went to their computer lab once a week. It was his second favorite class, behind gym.

 

[Aidensmom]

Did they have computer class in his kindergarten? Cam's class went to their computer lab once a week. It was his second favorite class, behind gym.

They have a media center with about 25 or so computers, but I think they mostly get used by the 6th-8th graders. They also have computers in all the classrooms, the one in my son's class was used them during "groups" sometimes. (It is a public school, but it is a special set up where it is partnershipped with a local business alliance, and the businesses donate a lot of stuff to the school, including state of the art computers.)

My son's favorite class was gym too (or PE as it is called here).

 

[Boo'sMom]

If I had a child who was more interisted in Baseball and playing outside than the computer I think I would be celebrating!

 

[Towncrier]

DD Sarah also has a computer geek for a dad. She saw her older brother James playing computer games, specifically one that taught the alphabet. We had a hard time getting her NOT to play with the computer. She learned the entire lowercase alphabet in a couple of days (as evidenced by her annoying habit of spelling nearly every sign that we saw for the new few days). And she was only 18 months old.

Like Cam, she has turned into one of the best resources that any of her teachers could have imagined. As she has progressed through elementary and high school, she has solved network and printer problems in nearly every classroom. And she still knows her ABCs.

I guess that I would suggest that kids oftentimes like to do what they see siblings and parents doing. There is plenty of good (and fun) educational software out there. You might try that approach.

And I have to agree that computers and keyboarding are a necessary skill for kids that are in school today. Of course that may change, but I know that I would be lost today in my profession as a software engineer if it weren't for the fact that I took a touch typing class in high school. And I don't see that need for keyboarding skills to evaporate in the near term. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I suggested to our local school administrators that they stop trying to teach the kids cursive writing and instead have them concentrate on keyboarding.