Kids' Tech Hook UP

What's the Best Computer to Buy Your Child?

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

My son is 13 and I have decided it's time to get him his first computer. He currently uses mine, and as his needs are increasing (schoolwork, etc.) it is getting too difficult to share. He currently uses my computer when he is at my house, and his father's when he is there (we are divorced) and carries a flash drive between so that he can transfer documents from one computer to the other.

Technology changes so frequently, however, and at 13 I'm unsure of how responsible he will be with the computer. What's the best route to take in terms of buying him his own computer?

Sincerely,

Tech-Challenged Mom

Dear Tech-Challenged Mom,

Consider a laptop for your son.

One of the most important things computer manufacturers need to understand is how the American family has changed. Divorce rates are very high, and that means that children have their custody managed by a mom and a dad in two separate households, as well as a myriad of combinations of visitation and custody in the two households — sometimes more than two households.

With kids being shuttled between mom’s and dad’s the importance of LAPTOP computers for kids has never been stronger. The laptop is portable enough to be taken the same way a history book or a math book or gym clothes would be taken back and forth.

The problem is that most laptops are delicate and can easily be damaged by teenage or child neglect. They can also be stolen or lost. But after gluing your child’s name, address and phone number to the computer, and buying a super durable case for the lap top, this portable model makes the most sense for today’s kids.

Just be careful to continue monitoring your son's Internet use to keep him safe, especially when he goes online to socialize.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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