Another issue that has been raised in the past couple of weeks is the amount of time our children spend using their laptops.
They do spend a lot of time on their computers,I will be the first to admit that, but not on the same activity. They use it for maths, reading, research, entertainment, preparing presentations, playing games and communicating with friends, so it's logical they spend a considerable chunk of their day working on it.
Would people have the same attitude to them reading textbooks, writing stories and telephoning friends? I think not. There seems to be some strange connection with computers and time wasting. But consider we have a disabled child who has fine motor problems, whose muscles do not function the same as the majority of the population. Should we make her struggle to write by hand just so she 'isn't on her laptop' or should we utilise modern technology to help her. Would we make her struggle to walk when she could use a motorised wheelchair? Typing is considerably easier than writing, why should her creativity be limited by her physical capabilities.
The other child has asymetrical development - her scientific ability is way ahead of her literary skills - should we make her stick to textbooks she can read or let her use technology to absorb the information verbally and work at the higher level she is capable of.
As I sit here now Mouse is tapping away on her laptop. She is writing a letter of appilcation to the Open University, chatting to a friend who lives in England and listening to music. Should I make her stop just because she has used up all her 'screen time'. No doubt when she has finished those activities she will continue writing her latest story, or look up some film trailers on YouTube, or do some of her online maths programme. Her I.T. skills are superb, we keep a check on her eyesight, and she is absorbing knowledge at a phenomenonal rate. Personally I can't see the problem.
And the other one - sat upstairs with the girls from next door playing Sylvanian Familes :)
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