personal laptop for a middle schooler
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Anonymous
| I'm considering buying a laptop for my son, who is starting middle school next year. I want him to be able to complete whatever homework assignments/research/printing he needs to do independently. I also have no objections to him playing video games for a limited amount of time each weekend assuming all the homework is completed. What I am trying to avoid, however, is unlimited computer use for gaming and socializing at night and on weekends. My son tends to lose all self-control when it comes to computer usage, and I'm worried that having a personal computer in his room will exacerbate the problem. Any thoughts on how to give him what he needs while keeping his computer usage under control? |
jsteele
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Site Admin Offline
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Both of our sons have Mac laptops. The Mac OS has built-in parental controls which are pretty easy to use. I have set a time that they are allowed to login and a time by which they must logout (or be logged out automatically). During the time they are allowed to be logged in, there is also a time limit. I will grant extra time on days that they have earned it. The parental controls also control which programs can be opened and which websites can be accessed. One caveat is that the parental controls are somewhat broken on the current version of the OS and don't always work as expected. Hopefully, that will be fixed soon.
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Anonymous
| Why does he need to have it in his room? |
Anonymous
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I wouldn't do a Mac, unless you're rolling in the dough. Something cheaper and simpler will do the trick.
I'm a high school teacher, and the school has invested in a bunch of chrome books this year. I kind of love them, but you can't have any applications (like Microsoft office) - you can only work with online platforms. That said, most kids use Google Docs/Presentations for their work now anyway. And they're like $200. |
Anonymous
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Our kid has one.
The rule is that the laptop stays in the common areas of the house. We also take the charger or computer away if we need a punishment (grades, not doing homework, sneaking game time, etc) |
Anonymous
The only other place to put it is my office, which I am not sure I want to share. Besides, it makes more sense for him to have his computer where his homework is - i.e. his room. |
Anonymous
No it isnt. He will use it all the time, especially if he already has no control. My daughter is in 10th and never needed her own computer and she is in a magnet. Her phone is charging in the kitchen at 9pm. Rooms are for sleeping and reading only. |
Anonymous
Microsoft Family Safety is fantastic. I can see every time the computer was logged in and how long, everything that the child did, including which internet pages were opened and how many times. I've actually blocked a number of the pop-up ads, and it's cut down on load time for the kids and data usage  They have a set time block per day that they can use the computer and a certain number of hours per day for weekdays and weekends. It's easy to set up, the child needs an email address, and they need a Microsoft account on the computer; you need a Microsoft account to run the family safety page.
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Anonymous
.this only works if your kids havebsign in accounts and use microscoft . My kids are older and it's easy to set up hudden accounts. |
Anonymous
MS teacher. I think him having his own laptop is a great idea - several of my students do and bring them to use in class each day. They love it and find it helpful to have their own equipment throughout the day, as our team uses the tech a lot. That said, I highly recommend that your son learn to do his HW somewhere other than his room if he is easily distracted. |
Anonymous
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Rules are independent from devices. Yes some make it easier to enforce than others but it's not going to be one and done as they get better at sneaking around.
My son has a $200 HP runs Win8.1 with the size about 75% of a regular laptop, and just enough memory for minecraft. He loves it. |
Anonymous
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Do not do it. You will be sorry very soon.
Get laptop (family one.) Put it in common area (Kitchen, Family room, dining room etc.) Create for your son separate profile. Activate Microsoft Family Safety. Mom of 11 and 13 years old, who have difficulty to stay on task if allowed to go to internet during homework time. |
Anonymous
Actually, it's really easy to keep control. If the parent has the adminitrator account, sets up the child account and no guest account, the child can easily be tracked. No hidden accounts, because don't know the parent's password, so can't get in and set anything up. |
Anonymous
| OP, why can't your child do homework at the kitchen table? |
Anonymous
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I didn't realize Mac had the safety controls.
DS has a $400 computer I bought on sale from Microsoft store a year ago. It was a great deal and is far better computer than what he actually needs. Most of his assigments are done via Google docs, as PP said. You cannot limit the internet during HW time. Most, if not all, of their work (Blackboard esp) is on the internet. I like Family Safety. Even tho it is "DS" computer, we only have 2 accounts on it -- mine as admin and his. I can see everything. Also, because of the family safety limitations it is harder to accidentally download viruses, l |