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Limiting Kids' Computer Time?
Bibu asks: "As a parent of three, I have to spend a lot of effort to keep my kids away from the computer. Until now, we had a Linux box in which a little cron script would just shutdown the machine after half an hour, when the kids were using it. Does someone on Slashdot have a fancier solution? One that keeps track, controls the total time per user per day, and would warn the user of the upcoming deadline (e.g. in five minutes their time is up)? Since we just moved to Mac OS X, solutions for that platform are preferred."
Saying "johnny you have 30 minutes of computer tonight" and "JOHNNY! You'd better be off that computer and doing your homework in 5 minutes!" always works
...and that's all there is to it.
Be a parent. Don't rely on technology to monitor your kids. That's YOUR job.
I am a parent, less than two weeks or within two years (unsure, my child has CP in the language center of his brain, bound to affect how fast he becomes technically literate)- but I've got to say this comes down to *useability* of what they're doing on the computer. Videogames, messaging, slashdot, these things are huge time wasters and very addictive. Just about anything else they could be doing online is actually life skills that are *more* profitable than what they could be learning otherwise- unless it's to get them to exercise, leave them alone.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
I can't WAIT until your kids get older and rebel.
Sit them down. Tell them their time limits. They can budget their time accordingly. If they don't, they should be disciplined. They need to learn how to budget their time, and discipline themselves. Don't impose technical solutions to moral/character issues. This is a great opportunity to help your children become more mature!
You really can't cut them off from the internet and expect them to learn to program.
Even if you buy them books on whatever language they're learning, they will still need google to look up questions once they get more advanced.
I see the internet as a necessary extension of a computer, instead of stopping their internet usage completely, why not just monitor it? If they spend too much time on instant messaging/irc/game websites, tell them that you will have to limit their usage if they continue to visit these websites so much. You're the parent, if they don't listen to you it's your responsibility to punish them.
He's talking to Mr. Strawman. He made up a hypothetical argument which nobody had yet made, and knocked it right down. He wins.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
If you have to use external measures to limit their time, you've already failed.
"The Devil does not know a lot because He's the Devil, He knows a lot because he's old." -- unknown
I know too many kids who sit at their computers to avoid going outside and playing with other kids. If this is your reason for limiting their time at the keyboard then it is a good thing, though 30 minutes is unrealistic. I wouldn't be too concerned until the 3rd hour or so.
It fundamentally depends on what they would be doing without the PC. If they would be watching TV then by all means let 'em type. PCs make kids smarter whereas TVs only make people lazy and stupid. Both PCs and TVs, however, contribute to the skyrocketing rate of childhood obesity and that's a _very_ bad thing.
As long as they're walking or cycling to school, playing sports afterwards, and not overweight then I don't think you really want to limit their computer time.