klaus imgrund declaimed: > On Sunday 05 October 2003 14:40, Andrew Perrin wrote: > > On Sun, 5 Oct 2003, Bengt Thure'e wrote: > > > > > Thanks, but it sort of demands an internet connection. I hope I can use > > > a very old laptop (Pentium 100), and no internet connection... Just to > > > put her somewhere and she can hack and slash at the keyboard... :-) > > > > > > > My son has loved emacs for just this application since he was about 11 > > months old. > > > > I know that this is probably flamebait - but is there any specific reason a > 1-2 year old child has to play with a computer? > I know that all the geeks have proof that this actually improves social > interaction but I am a little old fashioned. > > Prost, > > Klaus Klaus, I am right with you (and enjoyed Pigeon's post as well).
We imposed a zero-TV rule for our daughter. Effectively, we all quit watching TV. Today the only video I see is rented movies, watched with headphones after the wee one is aspleep. So what happened? Without the TV babysitter we spent more time talking and reading to our daughter (and to each other). She developed sophisticated verbal skills and delights in fantasy games of her own devising. It helped that our preschool had a rule against wearing clothes with corporate characters or logos. Today we do use books on tape as a babysitter. We'd planned on phasing TV back in at around 4 yrs old, but then we found a school (Waldorf, OT flame starter :-) that believes in no video for kids until age 10. This seems extreme to me, but is doing no harm. At age 6, Hannah has taught herself addition and multiplication by counting things and asking questions, recently she discovered multiplicative commutivity (one case, anyway) by counting a 5x6 egg tray. I have no fear for her future achievements, there'll be plenty of time to start on coding theory. And yes, at age two she enjoyed using a keyboard, typing in SimpleText on my wife's Mac with the font set really big. As for me, without TV I've had the bliss of missing Star Search, Survival, and lord only knows what else. As far as I can tell, the only thing I'm missing is the Daily Show. And I _think_ I'm getting the BBC's best thanks to video and DVD releases. Father Ted! PM -- Paul Mackinney [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
