Slashdot Mirror
Texting Toddlers, How Young is Too Young?
theodp writes "Toddlers don't need to be texting, concedes the NYT's Lisa Belkin, but since they have always had toy typewriters and toy telephones, why not toy Blackberrys? If your little tyke is itching to text, the NYT has a round-up of texting devices aimed at children as young as three who want to talk with their thumbs. The question of, 'when is a child is old enough for their own cell phone' has been replaced with the question of, 'what type of texting gadget is appropriate for which age group.' But don't forget to lay down the law: 'Our 13-year-old got a phone with an unlimited plan as a reward for good grades,' says HiTechMommy.com blogger Cat Schwartz. 'Each night he is required to turn the phone in at 10 p.m. and then gets it back first thing in the morning.'"
Turning it in and then getting it back the next day? Responsible Parenting? Lies! With no kids myself, I can only offer tech to my 3 nieces as their parents see fit. I think teens is a good age, but as always, it depends on when the child can show responsible behavior. Many College students in my town are not responsible enough to own phones.
If I wrote something witty, you would say I stole it from somewhere.
So whatever happen to just let the kid go outside and play. I'm all for introducing kids to technologies and educating them but this is a little to much. IMO this is just a way to train your kids not to be sociable when they are adults. It seems that more and more of the younger generation are losing their ability to to really converse face to face.
This sounds like a load of trouble to me. I will certainly teach my children to spell and write properly before allowing them to own any texting-enabled device. Imagine a generation of people who learned texting before proper spelling and grammar. The horrors!
When they are old enough to buy their own texting device and pay their own bills then I'll let my kids text.
>>>think its great to teach 5 year olds Sex ed.
Sure. Why not? When my 6-year-old nephew asked, "How do babies get in mommys bellies?" I just told him straight-up. The daddy puts his "pee pee" into his wife's private area, and that puts his seed into her belly, and then it grows into a baby. He went "ewwww" and then went back to watching TV. If he wants more info, he'll ask when he's ready to handle it.
We discuss other "disgusting" things with our kids, like how to pee into the toilet, or how to wipe the brown stuff off their butt, so I see no reason to withhold the sex information either. In fact I think it's better to them them NOW when they young, rather than wait until they become self-conscious teens who are easily embarrassed.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
And what exactly, pray tell, is wrong with teaching 5 year olds sex ed ?
Texting was that tiny spot on the personal digital communications timeline between "Cell Phones Become Prevalent" and "Smartphones with E-Mail Become Prevalent." And I guess I can't really say that "smartphones have become prevalent," beyond the anecdotal "everyone I know uses a smartphone now and just e-mails from it (at no extra charge)." So, yeah, give kids the ability to text, I guess. Give 'em all an abacus and a CueCat while you're add it, too.
It's not the technology that's the problem. As with anything it's lazy parenting and the technology being used to replace something a parent should be doing. With proper parenting, a child learning how to text will have a head start over his friends and not being a spoiled little twat.
(I didn't read the article. I've got my own opinions and agenda) We gave our son a disabled Blackberry at 6 months, and a OLPC laptop at 14 months. He hasn't gotten bored with the laptop at all. It stays on at a workstation area he chose and arranged, and he is the only one who gets to use it. I am proud of him and certain he is better for having these gadgets in daily use.
One of the wisest things about parenting I've ever heard:
"If you are old enough to ask the question, you are old enough to hear the answer."
They may not like the answer but they can handle it.
he did say "sex ed" apposed to "teach them about sex". So I'll assume he meant having it discussed during preschool, and not at home.
I agree that if they ask, you should answer. I won't bring up the debate about teaching it in school by giving my opinion of it first though.
Often times, answering a child's question is simply the best approach (often enough that I can't think of a time that it's not, though I won't close my answer to say there aren't times to answer.)
Even while working in a call center you can learn this. I had a father call in once, and during the troubleshooting, his son was asking who he was talking to. The father was trying to unsuccessfully trying to get his child to let him continue the call in peace, and I gave the advice to simply answer the question. Soon as he answered, his child was satisfied and went away.
Amazing how much a single answer can matter to someone who hasn't had their curiosity taken away by modern education.
Defective Logic
If you're not legally allowed to drive then don't tell me how to drive. If you've never done a thing, don't try to tell someone who's done it how to do it. You'll only show your ignorance.
Free Martian Whores!
Precisely. The corollary, though, is that the answer needs to be age-appropriate. Recognize that young children often want the simple version of the answer; if they want more, they'll ask. Often they don't, or don't want it right away. The overly complex answer is less helpful.
If you RTFA, there are no "texting devices aimed at children as young as three ". The device aimed at 3 year olds is a toy with spelling games that's designed to look like a Blackberry. My daughter has had toy phones, including toy mobiles, since she was was one (and I'm pretty sure I had a pull-along phone when I was a toddler). Don't really see how this is greatly different from that.
Kids these days are surrounded by technology - my daughter's now 3 and would much rather sit and play on the CBeebies (BBC kids channel) website than watch CBeebies on the TV. If used (and supervised) properly, tech can be great for education as well as being fun.
I'm a father of a two year old. I think my brain experienced some kind of segfault when I read this. What is a two (or even three) year old going to say in a text message?
I don't see anything inherently wrong with exposure to technology at a young age. But I think the world (at least among first world countries) is already so saturated with technology that it's hardly necessary to go deliberately pushing it in kid's faces. I'd have to go out of my way to make my son interested in a cell phone. He's far too obsessed with other things, like a stick lying on the ground, or a butterfly flying across his face, or jumping up in down while rotating in a circle until he gets so dizzy he falls over in hysterics.
Compare those experiences with -- what -- sitting in a chair zoning into a tiny little screen? There will be time for that later. Right now, it seems far more important that he learn a few basic facts. Like, I don't know, the basic physical nature of reality. The fundamental rules of social interaction with other children and adults. The way the grass feels on your skin as you roll down a hill.
I don't forbid the child to play with a piece of technology. He just isn't interested in it. Every child is different, but I have to wonder if some parents are deliberately pushing technology on their kids when they'd much rather be doing something else. The world is a big, complex, and rich place. Technology has a way of latching into our minds and compelling us to sit for hours zoning into a screen. I'd rather delay that until later, and does that really make me a bad parent or a Luddite?