Yes, timer is a great invention. I use it all the time and not only to enforce the limits on internet usage
But, timer will not do the trick when I am away from the monitored computer and unable to enforce the limits.
In fact the more important part of my request was giving the kid a way to request a time extension that would be conveyed by email. Currently my children have to call me or rather ask someone to do it for them to ask me for making the change. In practice they do not do it and wait until I come home and unblock their account.
Zx81
Good points, all of them.
One temporary thing that might or might not work depending on the children involved:
1. You can give them the right to continue after they have been warned about time overage (just turn off the shutdown option).
2. You will be informed of their overages and can limit their future usage and reinstate the shutdown option if they have engaged in defensible overtime.
I realize that some kids (particularly teenagers) never think about the next moment and would gladly take 2 hours of inappropriate overtime without even considering the week's grounding that will ensue. But some kids can learn from this approach.
One temporary thing that might or might not work depending on the children involved:
1. You can give them the right to continue after they have been warned about time overage (just turn off the shutdown option).
[.....]
I realize that some kids (particularly teenagers) never think about the next moment and would gladly take 2 hours of inappropriate overtime without even considering the week's grounding that will ensue. But some kids can learn from this approach.
That is a possibility and I tried this with my emerging teenager. However for this to work you need to be very engaged in monitoring the time limits and investigate every case of going over the limit. Otherwise, in case of a busy/distracted parent, the child may get an impression that he or she can break/bend the rules and nothing happens.
Regarding the second point, I have the same experience, they sometimes have very little fear of consequences. And for this reason in many cases giving a kid to much freedom may not be a very good idea.
One temporary thing that might or might not work depending on the children involved:
1. You can give them the right to continue after they have been warned about time overage (just turn off the shutdown option).
[.....]
I realize that some kids (particularly teenagers) never think about the next moment and would gladly take 2 hours of inappropriate overtime without even considering the week's grounding that will ensue. But some kids can learn from this approach.
That is a possibility and I tried this with my emerging teenager. However for this to work you need to be very engaged in monitoring the time limits and investigate every case of going over the limit. Otherwise, in case of a busy/distracted parent, the child may get an impression that he or she can break/bend the rules and nothing happens.
Regarding the second point, I have the same experience, they sometimes have very little fear of consequences. And for this reason in many cases giving a kid to much freedom may not be a very good idea.
Sounds like we're in the same place. I hope that Symantec is getting an idea of the complexities of parenting. Some of their initial input was a kind of Mary Poppins one-size-fits-all simplicity. Not only are families different from one another, but even within a family, it differs substantially from one day (maybe even one moment) to the next. What we all need is software that is incredibly flexible and responsive.
And although I've said this before, I would pay any reasonable fee for a child security app I could put on my son's I-Touch, a device marketed as an extended music player, but which turned out to a vehicle for uncensored web-browsing, instant messaging, hidden email accounts, gaming, secret social networking, and even a phone. I'm just waiting for the first family that traces a death or suicide or rape or just plain addiction to their child's social networking through their I-Touch, and initiates a class action lawsuit, one which I would gladly join.
Apple can say that all we have to do is take the I-Touch away from our kid; but by the time we have learned the implications of that device, the child has virtually bonded with it. I may have to take it away, but the relationship consequences will be extreme. And, moreover, what do I replace it with?
