Real computer for kids ??

[Lynnie]

My older son gets computer time at his pre-school, and I usually let him play with ours for 15 minutes or so a few nights a week. However, he has done a few screwy things to it, and his grandparents have been offering to buy him his own "kids" computer, so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or recommendations.

My first thought is a mac, but we have a pc, the school has a pc, and my work has a pc, so I have no idea what would be good, or if it would even be worth it. I just thought it might be good if it had less things to mess up (like DH's and my links to get on to our networks at work) and was more kid friendly.

Any ideas ? Should I just wait till he *needs* one for school ?

[aim]

We got our son an older imac when he was about 18 mo old - he would play the baby banger program and that's about it. Now he is 2.5 and he plays the starfall.com programs by himself and loves Tux Paint (free painting program for the mac) His computer was just a couple hundred dollers - We got it on ebay. I can ask my husband for exact stats tonight if you are interested, but we have been happy because it keeps his out of our stuff and we can all sprnd a few mintues each day in the office and he has his own thing to do. (In fact that is what he is doing right now)

Oh and I think that kids can switch platforms a lot more seemlessly than adults - and for us I think a mac was a better option for DS (doesn't crash all the time etc)

Amy
DS Bennett 1-14-04

[Lynnie]

I'd love them, thanks. The macs seem prettier and more kid friendly.

Its a little scary, he can go to internet explorer, and find pbskids.org by himself. Luckily he doesn't turn it on himself yet, so as long as we turn it off, we don't have to worry about him getting on when we don't know about it. Of course once I didn't and while I was making dinner, discovered him playing internet backgammon with some random stranger. Did not like that. (and neither did the person, I am sure, since my 4.5 year old does not know how to play backgammon!)

[lhk777]

Actually we were at the mall yesterday and my DH wanted to stop by the Apple store. My DD (3 years old) wandered around the store and found the Macs that they have set up for the kids. She started using the mouse and managed to find her way around the Dora game. I was a bit surprised. We are an all PC family but my DH is now convinced that he needs to buy her a Mac. He thinks it will be easier for her to use and more 'fun' for kids.

You may want to check out the macs at the Apple store just to see if you like the look and feel of them.

-Linda

[LD92599]

If you decide to go w/ a Mac and a new one, definitely check out store.apple.com and then scroll to the bottom right to the "save" section. You can save a ton $$ on a refurb. We've bought at least 75 of them (for work) over the last 2 years and the only computer we've had to return was one brand-new, not a refurb imac!

You can look for an eMac - it's the heavy monster of a computer but the screen isn't as delicate as the imac ones.

Laura
Will is three and a half - we're now making progress with sleeping!