[msencenb]

First of all - totally agree. I work half-time so I get to spend extended time every day with the kids.

My post did not say anything about how I was going to use the computer, in fact we often do exactly what you said with his fake keyboard in between his other activities.

I also believe that it's my job to provide my children with the environment in which they can thrive and be independent. This post is asking for constructive guidance on how other people have navigated the transition into engaging with technology that all kids go through.

If you have any ideas, I'd be happy to hear them.

[brudgers]

My parenting advice is that your attention is on optimizing a non-optimizeable challenge.

The advice is based on experience. Imagine asking this question in 2002. That’s before social media, before ubiquitous data, before smartphones, before streaming.

Your job is to grow as much as your child so you can support them when they start having adultish problems; can just stop following your agenda; and the only tool on your toolbelt is being the kind of person they want to be around.

Screen time is rounding error on the quality of parenting. Stop arguing on the internet. It is pretend work.

[syeare]

The only people who wouldn't agree with what brudgers is saying are obviously people who didn't have bad parents (bad, as in, resorting to any type of abuse because they are incapable of even sorting out their own thoughts and emotions)