So I originally was simply going to add this to my comments, but I think it’s better if it’s more visible. This was a comment posted in reply to an ealier post (sorry Rhonda) I think she makes some very valid points. I’ve given my response below, but I’m not 100% committed to what I say.
Written on March 7th, 2003 by Chris PratherChris, she's three. Don't get her addicted to the computer. Get her books and get her hands on toys, and take her for exciting tours in the outdoors to touch and taste and hear everything, but don't get her a box that beeps and flashes bright colors and that she has to sit in front of and clack away at.
I would actually be concerned with getting Katie used to overstimulating circumstances. My pastor at School, John Higginbotham and his three kids were all ADD or ADHD. As a result the kids shouldn't play videogames because it overstimulated them and basically raised the level of interaction they needed to hold their attention on things, meaning they wouldn't pay attention to normal books or lectures and stuff. Also, in a similar vein, he was going to get his kids laptops for when they went to college so they could take notes in a visual and tactile environment (typing and seeing their notes at the same time would help them concentrate during a lecture, because they couldn't pay attention to take notes by hand.)
Take this with a grain of salt, because I don't know much more than that about ADD/ADHD. Also, I know Katie doesn't have them. But for similar reasons, she probably doesn't need to be sucked into becoming a computer-phile quite so young. </blockquote> I think what Jamie and I are feeling is her frustration at not being able to do something we're doing. Obviously the two of us really enjoy computers, and she really wants to enjoy them too. Having one of her own would help move toward that. Yes, I agree it's terribly important to give her quiet slow moving moments in her life. To take her out to do tactile visual worldly things, and to slow her down sometimes with quiet activities like reading etc. We currently read to her every night before bed (like any parent should do) and Jamie has her scheduled for alot of social interaction this summer. She (Katie) is such a social being that it's painful to watch her not socially interact with people (and painful for me to see how easily she does it). I don't think those things will change. So given all of that, I think adding a computer into the mix won't horribly un-balance things. Yes it will probably destroy her ability to write by hand, and be very frustrating to try to think without typing, and possibly make her attention span that of a gnat. But really these are things that all of us suffer from and none of us really grew up with a (modern) PC in our household. Would a PC make the situation that much worse?