A Summer Survival Guide for Parents and Their Pint-Size PC Users

Summer is a challenging time for parents. You need to keep the kids entertained so they don’t drive you bonkers, and you probably want to keep them at least a little mentally engaged so their brains don’t turn to mush before the start of the new school year.

A personal computer won’t solve most of the parenting problems you’ll face, but it can help you and your kids make it through these lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

First off, though, you’ll have to disabuse yourself of the idea that the computer can be a substitute for parental supervision and engagement. For one thing, there are all kinds of computer programs and images that contain violent or sexually explicit material or other content that’s unsuitable for kids, and you’ll need to stay involved just to control what your progeny don’t see on the screen of your PC.

If you’re not online yet, it should be pretty easy to monitor and control what types of programs your kids run on your computer. If you don’t want your kids playing the latest blood ‘n’ guts arcade game, then don’t buy it.

Be sure to check the games you purchase for any ratings. Often, you will see violence and sexual content ratings on software boxes, much like movie ratings. Because software ratings operate under a volunteer rather than mandatory system, though, not all games have them.

If your kids are on the Net, you’ll have to be even more vigilant. Software programs such as CyperPatrol and NetNanny that block access to sites deemed inappropriate for children can help, but there’s simply no substitute for active engagement.

While it’s important to control what your kids don’t see on the computer, it’s equally important to control what they do see. One good place to start is with the software category known as edutainment. These are programs that, while fun for your kids, sneak in a little educational value when they’re not looking.

Take a trip to the software store and help the kids pick out programs that are appropriate for your household. If a child seems weak in a particular academic area, concentrate on programs designed to help with those skills.

Help your kids find fun stuff online too. Commercial online services offer some special content just for youngsters, some of it designed to be educational and some of it there for pure fun. There are plenty of great sites out on the Internet as well. For example, the next time you use the Yahoo search service, click on the little icon marked Yahooligans and you’ll find an entire section of cyberspace reserved just for your kids.

Of course, the best way to monitor your kids’ computer usage is to turn computing into a family pastime. Are you planning a vacation away from home this summer? If so, why not pick up some trip-planning software? Then you can sit down as a family and plan out the perfect vacation.

To supplement the information offered by the planning software, have your kids go online and do some additional research about your destination. This will enhance your family computing experience and make for a better trip too.

With all that spare time over the summer, creating a family Web page also makes a great family project. You can keep your kids (and yourself) busy for hours on end scanning photos, designing layouts and uploading files to the World Wide Web.

Products like Adobe PageMill or Claris HomePage make very easy work of creating Web pages. Stop and think for just a minute and you’ll realize that there’s no shortage of content around your home. Plus, your kids will learn what may one day turn out to be very valuable computer skills.

Summer computing boils down to three simple steps. First, keep your kids away from the bad stuff. Next, make sure they get the good stuff. And finally, and most important, make sure you stay actively involved as a parent.

*

Kim Komando is a Fox TV host, syndicated talk radio host and founder of the Komputer Klinic on America Online (keyword KOMANDO). She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]