Monday, July 18, 2011

How much of computer time is enough for kids?

I have been branded as two extremes 'too strict' and 'too nice'. Accessing the internet once a week is all that I allow H. And this is provided he has completed his homework and housework promptly. The maximum time allowed for him to go online is between two to three hours and this is normally on Saturdays during school days.

Well, this rule is imposed since sometime last year when he is becoming more and more active in Facebook. Initially, he showed resistance to this rule as he will not be able to post or responds to Facebook as frequent as he would like to, as what most of his friends and other teenagers do.

I was labelled 'too strict' as I was supposed to permit him computer time or else he would have no other pastime and he is supposed to be 'grown-up' enough to access the computer apart from his other duties. Questions and remarks such as 'How will he spend his time if not going online?', 'He will retaliate if you don't give him what he wants', 'He will demand for other things such as going out if you don't give him his computer time', 'It's hard to control at this age' were posed to me. Yet, I took no chances and proceeded with this rule. This rule is relaxed when there are public and school holidays.

'Too nice'? I don't agree at all. Once a week is not over-indulgence at all. Afterall, this is a modern era. No one can live without IT now.

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