One of the ways to keep Vanessa occupied is to sit her in front of a computer “tuned” into the Sesame Street website. You can see in the photo how attentive she is to the computer monitor. The trouble is that she also likes to press the keys on the keyboard which, as you might expect, may occasionally interfere with the web browser, causing it to load another page, switch to another application, etc. I can’t take the keyboard away, because she wants it. She’ll also struggle for control over the keyboard and mouse even when I need to click onto another webpage for her.
So when, for example, the video on the current page has ended, she’ll complain. When I try to move on to the next video for her, I can’t , because she won’t let me have the keyboard and mouse.
I’ve figured out a way to fix that. We’ve got a wireless keyboard and mouse on that computer. I move the keyboard and mouse onto another table (i.e. the one that I work on), and then put in an old wired keyboard in front of her. It’s a real keyboard, so she doesn’t complain. She doesn’t know it’s not connected (yet…). She hasn’t asked for the mouse, but I suppose if she really wanted it, I’ve also got a spare mouse around.
So now with the connected wireless keyboard and mouse on another table, I can conveniently control the computer for her. I’m quite pleased with the arrangement.
Vanessa’s going to be 2 years old tomorrow. I wonder at what age she’ll know how to surf the web on her own…
My daughter is 4, and my son is 7. Both can surf quite well now, but still require constant supervision, especially when hunting for flash games as there is so much crappy advertising out there that attracts their clicks like candy.
Luckily all our computers are quite close together so I can use my laptop or phone, the kids and use the Mac or Windows PC, and we all surf together.
My laptop is a tablet BTW, and both the kids love TuxPaint, especially with the pen rather than a mouse. Much more natural for them even when just surfing. My son is just starting to find his way around a keyboard now, so has been given a “proper” account with a real password for him to remember.
The mac has the best “Simple Kids Mode” though, with a simplified Dock, and an easy way to restrict what apps can be loaded, and has the friendliest way of kicking them off automatically as bed time. With Windows 7, it just locks their account, so if there was a heavy flash app running in the browser – too bad, have to reboot to kill the session. Also they get all the automatic staring apps as a full user, and this can cause some problems with lots of popups and dialogs when they login. The kids first computer of their own is definitely going to be an old Mac.