> Why expose children to computers at such a young > age? Shouldn't > they be running and jumping, playing with toys, > coloring, cutting, > riding bike/scooter, etc, instead? >
What does giving children exposure to computers at a young age necessarily mean that they aren't able to run, jump, play with toys, colouring, cutting, riding bicycles and scooters, etc? Why must they choose either physical activity OR mental activity? Are you familiar with the concept of stages of development, or that there are certain developmental windows which make learning easier? I'd recommend reading a few books that describe Jungian theory, or even Chomsky's language aquisition theory. Learning languages, including computer languages, is very much something which a child younger than 6 years old's brain is geared to be accomplishing. It is absolutely true that people are capable of learning outside of these windows, or else university would be a moot point for most of us. That by no means suggests that we should ignore that those cognitive oppurtunities exist. Riordon, our daughter, has her own personality which we allow her to explore, and to grow. When she is interested in learning something, we place her in situations which will facilitate learning. She made it obvious to us from a very young age that she had an interest in computers, and in music, and I think it would've been a disserive to not provided her with those oppurtunities. That hardly means she's going to grow up doomed to a solely cerebral existence. She's taken ballet, general movement class, she does yoga, she has a bike, a scooter, and rollerskates. She's begun to learn Spanish, French, and ASL. And yet she is not stressed, she is not over-worked, busy, or overextended. She is a very happy child and has plenty of time to be just that. I've managed to develop quite multifaceted hobbies and skills, I'm not entirely sure why I would expect my child, having only just turned five, to have so focused her interests that simply putting her infront of a computer would destine her to be a specialist capable of nothing else. > Yes, I have 2 young children: boy aged 5.67, girl > aged 4.25, and > yes, I am a database administrator (after being a > programmer for > many years), and I've been very successful at it, > while not having > been exposed to computers until 12th grade. > (Although I could have > used WordStar to type book reports & term papers.) > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Ron Johnson, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Jefferson, LA USA > > After seeing all the viruses, trojan horses, worms > and Reply > mails from stupidly-configured anti-virus software > that's been > hurled upon the internet for the last 3 years, and > the time/money > that is spent protecting against said viruses, > trojan horses & > worms, I can only conclude that Microsoft is > dangerous to the > internet and American commerce, and it's software > should be > banned. > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://mail.messenger.yahoo.co.uk
