am i doing the right thing?

Hey!

Thanks for replying and for the advice. I'm glad that you think im doing the right thing, I was just worried that maybe it was too much for him. With him being so young i just want to make sure that i dont swamp him with too much or let him get so carried away that he forgets how to play with others.

I'll go talk to my local college about getting him enrolled on a course for beginners and see how he does with that:)

Thanks again!

Thank you Sephrenia for the BR, and Ihope that I am giving you the right advice here, since I am no parent, and just sharing with you what I would do if I had such a child as smart as yours:)

Hey there:)

Thanks for the reply. What would you suggest I could do to improve his talent? I wouldnt want him wasting it any more than I would want him to be using it too much right now. Are there any sites that are good for kids who have talent at IT?

Thanks again for replying!

Hey there!

Thankyou so much for replying to this discussion. Your right in that I dont want him to be a complete geek lol, I want him to have interaction with others his age so that he gets the social skills he will need as he gets older.

Thankyou as well for pointing out that he can always stop the classes if he doesnt like them too much, I'd forgotten I could do that.

Hi there! thankyou for replying!

I don't think he would be labelled as a problem kid, he's pretty good at concentrating on his work lol, its just he wants to use the computer a lot and i think that sometimes it makes it harder for him to write out stuff at school when he finds it so much easier to type.

I will definitely keep an eye on it though to make sure he doesnt get bored with it! Thankyou for the advice!

hey vicki!

Thats what im kind of hoping. I know that the computer industry can make you lots of money but i dont want to push him at it which is why i concentrate on getting his schoolwork done so that it doesnt become a chore to be on the computer. Thankyou for replying!

Hi Twoey!

Thankyou for the advice. I'm totally keeping an eye on what he does because i know that sometimes sites that seem innocent can turn out to be something i dont want him to see. I use a child safety lock feature that my hubby downloaded and so far it seems to be working so thats at least one worry out of the way.

Thanks again!

Hey gr8esama,

Yes it is Wolfenstein that he plays and normally I would agree with you about it being inapropriate for him to play. However, he has been studying the second world war at school and he knows all about allied and axis forces coming together in huge battles and stuff and he wanted to see what it would have been like which is why i allowed him to play the game. On his server there is no swearing, no stupidity and all the adults that play know he is only 5 and watch out for him so if anybody comes on acting stupid, they all have a password that allows them to remove those players from the game.

I constantly monitor what he is doing on the internet as well and i dont allow him to chat to anyone except family on msn messenger and even then I watch what he says and does.

Thankyou for the advice on a private tutor but i couldnt afford one. I can get him into college because i receive certain benefits that would allow him to go for free but i couldnt get him a private tutor. I would of course go with him, thats a given, I wouldnt just dump him and run lol.

As for outside hobbies, hes a very good little artist and draws me pictures nearly every single day so i encourage that as well. I want to make sure he has as many choices as possible as he gets older which is why i was worried about a college course for him because i dont want to narrow the field.

Thanks again for replying!

It sounds like you're doing the best that you can! I'm glad the adults on his server look out for him. It must be pretty neat for them playing the game with a 5-year-old as the leader. There are so many adults in the gaming community who can't run anything.

It's very good that he likes World War 2. Studying history is a very very important thing for all children to do.

I don't know how the game enemy territory runs but I do know that in Wolfenstein the single player game there's a lot of fighting nazi zombies. If this hasn't been brought into the house yet, you might want to be warned. It's quite terrifying for an adult, I can't imagine what it would do to a child. (There's also very little evidence to the effect that the nazis did indeed create zombies. However, there's a lot of information in their records that haven't been released to the public because they were so heinous.)

Another World War 2 Shoot-em-up that he might like would be Battlefield 1942. I'm not sure how many people still play it, though. It's a pretty good series, but the people who play and talk on it might be even more adult than those in Wolfenstein.

The chance to put him into a college class at no charge to you is fantastic! Definitely take advantage of that. I don't think you'll be narrowing any fields for him. Chances are that if he receives credit for the class it won't be useful for him in the way of getting a degree. Unless he's inclined to get his degree very young, or your university stores credits for more than 10 years (this is what the local college stores credits for). Without credits you're just giving him extra information in his favorite hobby.

If he seems to handle the college scene well when he gets older, you can enroll him in other classes of his interest.

It's really a shame that the only way to get our children specialized and advanced training is to put them in an adult college. Someone should run a college for children. I suppose they have them, they just charge an arm and a leg.

Liking to draw is a good thing, too. There's plenty of variety available to someone who can do computer graphics. He could make video games, or work in advertising, just to name two things. Independent contracting is easy with some art skills as well. If he shows aptitude, there are plenty of games on the internet that need graphical artists. Last I saw the developing Harry Potter MMO ( http://thephoenixfeather.net/ ) needed artists. Looks like they're going to do a beta release soon, which is exciting. They're going to continue to need people working for them as they grow (if they grow).

Hi stiletto!

Thankyou for your kind words. I am doing my best to keep everything balanced for him, like at the minute hes not allowed on the computer because he was naughty at school and instead hes been playing with his toys and his friend from the neighbours house comes and plays with him. I always make sure school and other stuff comes first before computers and i think that he appreciates that because he gets to see more than a screen!

Thanks again!

hi there!

Thanks for replying. I do try my best to balance it out for him because i sure as heck dont want him to be a complete computer geek lol. He does play outside with the neighbours kids and i take him to the park twice a week too so hes getting plenty of exercise and I also make sure that schoolwork comes before computers. I do like your idea about a specific time for playing on it though, I'll try that out and see how it goes.

Thanks again for replying!

hi there.

I dont think he will be called a nerd, he has other interests too (I will kill the next person that buys him a book that makes noises!). He is very artistic and he loves to play with his other friends so hes getting other things to do that balance out the screentime.

saying that i think i could probably live with it if he became the next bill gates bwahahahah!

Thanks again!