Anyone who has not been in a young children's classroom for thirty years
or probably even ten years may have a difficult time guessing which age
group the equipment is meant for. Kids these days are much more aware
of what adults would call the 'adult world,' because kids grow up so
fast now that they are invading the adult world.
There are still lots of adults who are wary of computers, but
not a lot children are that frightened by them. Children love the
Internet and are not worried of using computers to access it. Older
individuals have a reverence for computers that children have never
picked up.
They are not in awe of them - there is no mystique surrounding
computers for them. Computers are just normal items to them. Kids may
not understand how they work, but hey! that's true of most items as far
as children are concerned.
This is maybe something that parents should consider while
preparing their children for school or even kindergarten - not that
children require a great deal of encouragement to play on the Internet.
Most parents have more trouble keeping them off it!
Anyway, the fact is that many contemporary kindergartens have
computers for the kids to get on line. This does not mean that the
children are being forced to go on line, it is just that there is a lot
of educational material on line that teachers can use in these times of
cut-backs on resources and kids and their parents expect to see a
computer in the classroom as well.
It is worth talking to the school teacher and finding out what
level of computer experience is expected of kids going to that school.
It will not be advanced, but it is worth making certain that they are up
to that level, even if it is merely so that they do not feel out of
place in class.
The access that these school computers have to the Internet will
be quite restricted, so there is no need to worry that the kids will be
accessing inappropriate material and you ought to set up an 'account'
or 'user profile' on your home computer that is comparable to the one in
school.
This is done by the use of programs known as 'net nannies.' You
can also use the net nanny built into Windows, and you can block
individual web sites too. Enquire of what system is in use at school and
how it is configured. Copy that onto your home computer but only
configure your children's account(s) with it.
This means that everyone in the house will have to log in at
home: The kids will log in to an account with limited access and the
adults will log into an account or accounts with unlimited access. This
is not hard to set up.
This is not a fail-safe method of preventing older children from
accessing unsuitable web sites, but it is all you will need for keeping
young children safe, although parents should always show an interest in
what their children are doing on line, and they should change their
passwords frequently.
