Teaching Your Child Basic Computer Skills

In our home, for better or worse computers are a central part of our lives. We work on them, play on them, watch movies with them, and communicate through them. Our daughter is no exception and has had access to a computer since she was about 2 years old. Even at that age she could learn to use a keyboard and mouse for the most basic of tasks, such as turning on a movie player, or playing a game geared for her age group. As she has grown, computer skills have become second nature for her, and at the age of eight, she is an expert at navigating parent approved game sites, researching for homework, playing games for kids far older than she is, and has mastered email and blogging.

Computers are becoming more and more a part of our world, each year that goes by, and the child that does not understand how to use one, will be severely disadvantaged as they progress thru high school, college and the Career world. While most children will get some computer education thru school, it is not a guarantee, and not something that should be left to chance. Here are some tips, and skills you can work on with your child, as well as important safety skills, to avoid becoming a victim on the internet.

Very Small Children

As soon as a child can hold and use a crayon or pencil, they may be ready to start learning their way around a computer. This will vary for each individual child, but by the age of 3 most are ready to learn the most basic of skills.

First thing is first, teach your child that they must wash their hands first, and to leave food and drink at the dinner table, trust me on this, it will save you a lot of grief later.

Very small children will be able to listen to music, watch videos, use drawing programs such as http://www.tuxpaint.org/ , and play games made specifically for toddlers which can be purchased, or many sites Such as www.fisher-price.com/us/playtime/ now offer

free games online for your toddler. These activities will familiarize them with the use of the mouse and key board, and ready them for learning more advanced skills, as well as teaching them basic skills needed for reading and math.

Internet Safety

While very young children are not a concern when it comes to the issue of internet safety once your child starts to use the internet, and email; it is essential that you educate yourself and your child about internet safety. Scam Busters has a great article with a good selection of links, to help you learn more about this very important topic; it can be found here http://www.scambusters.org/internet-scams.html

A few internet safety basics to get you started are to teach your child to never download anything without parents' permission, not to talk to anyone they don't know without your approval ( for the younger sub teen set) and to never, ever give out any personal information to anyone!

For parents, it is important that you monitor your child's activities, and keep their access to the computer in a centrally located area, where you spend most of your time. Be sure that you have adequate virus protection, keep your computer updated (to prevent security concerns) and your computer is adequately firewalled. If you cannot supervise your child's access as well as you might want, to consider adding a net nanny type of program to ensure that your child's internet browsing will be a safe and pleasant experience.

Basic skills to teach your child

There are a few basic skills you will want to teach your child, for the health of your computer, your sanity, and their general using pleasure.

Turning the computer on and off: This may seem like an obvious thing, but many children do not understand the appropriate way to turn a computer on and off, and this can cause some obvious frustration for child and parent alike. Teach them to turn the computer on, but most importantly to allow the computer to boot up all the way, and for all programs to complete loading. Otherwise you may find you have a frantic child banging on the keyboard, screaming at the computer to work, before it is ready. Turning the computer off by the power switch is never good for it, so teach your child to use the shut down function on the start menu.

Create a folder for your child to use to store their documents, pictures, games and any other items that might be theirs on the computer. Teach them how to file things neatly, and not to leave them scattered on the desktop or lost in document folders all thru the computer. Yes you can also create for them their own profile on the computer, but filing is still a good idea, because too many items on a desktop can slow a computer down.

Teach your child how to use the search engine: when it comes time for them to start doing homework this will be invaluable to them. Bookmark search engines you feel comfortable with, and teach them how to use them to find answers to the questions they have.

· Email: When your child is old enough, this is a great way for them to keep in touch with family members that live at a distance, so get them an email, and set them up with the emails of important friends and family. Please though before you do this, be sure that you and your child review the safety procedures and rules properly.

The Fun Stuff

Everybody loves a good game, and with so many of them available for every age level it is not hard to find something that will suit any child. Before you go out and spend lots of your hard earned money though a few things for you to consider.

There are a large number of games available online; some are safe, some are not. In addition to that, not all these games are free, so it is very important to teach your child to ask permission before downloading any game.

Be sure the games match the maturity and ability level of your child. This may vary depending on the child, so be sure you have a good understanding of these factors before you buy. A game may say it is for your child's age range, but if your child's skill range is much higher, they may find the game boring, and you will have wasted your money. Check maturity ratings if you are concerned about blood or violence, most games will list this somewhere on the box, if not look for reviews on the game in question online. PC games are not returnable once opened, so do your homework before you buy.

Teaching your child to be comfortable at the computer is a skill that will last them a lifetime, and help them in most anything they try to achieve later in life.

Sources:

http://www.essortment.com/all/teachingchildre_rahk.htm

http://www.curiousparents.com/Main/xq/asp/article.mar_parenting_computer_skills/qx/article.htm

http://www.scambusters.org/internet-scams.html

http://www.dad.info/entertainment/technology/teaching-your-kids-to-use-computers/

http://www.kidsandcomputers.co.uk/teach-your-child-computer-research-skills.html