I took this photo of my children whilst walking home from a lovely family meal out. The children wanted to walk on the line. We joked about the ‘kids being online’.
We found it hilariously funny, that this was my children’s idea of being ‘online’!
This got me thinking, when do children start to go ‘online‘? I believe my 3 yr olds are too young and have never been on the internet. They have had a few goes on iPad educational games, but they are not literally on the internet for that.
My 5yr old son has been on the CBeebies site a few times, at Grandads. He loved it, but we don’t really seem to encourage it at home. His school has a blog, he is supposed to look at, but I must admit, we have not done that yet. Society seems to suggest he should be ‘online’ by now, but I am reluctant. I know once he is shown that whole internet world, he will love it and I find it worrying where that may lead.
I don’t want to deprive my children of a world of education and the many good things that the internet has to offer, but I also don’t want them to think that the internet and computers are everything. I feel he is young to be using the internet, yet modern society seems to be suggesting all children should be having an online experience to some degree.
Luckily, my son has not questioned or asked anything about the internet yet, so I have not approached it with him. When he does, I shall probably embrace it, but go down the road of ‘everything in moderation’ and ensure it is time limited, supervised and that he does not miss out on other basic childhood fun stuff in the process.
Everything is ‘online’, in our modern world. We all need to be able to use the internet, even elderly people are needing to learn. My mother in law can’t use the internet, but you can’t book a bus ticket (which lots of elderly people need to do) unless you are online, so we have to book it for her!
Clearly it is an essential skill for children to learn how to use the internet, but at what age should children start?
I would love to know what you think. Please leave me a comment and let me know your opinion.
Ps. Don’t forget the screen free day on Sunday 19th January 2014, please join me in a day of traditional childhood fun.