Comments on: Young children do not need computers! They need bubbles and balloons instead! Or ‘Hawkwind: their part in my downfall’ /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/ Supporting children's language, communication and learning Tue, 29 Sep 2015 11:17:11 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3 By: Michael Jones /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8106 Tue, 29 Sep 2015 11:17:11 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8106 Wow Gillian!!!
Thank you for replying. Please pass on my blog and start a debate (though some aspects of it are NSFW (Not Suitable for Work!!)
Very best wishes
Michael

]]> By: Gillian Robertson /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8105 Tue, 29 Sep 2015 10:52:24 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8105 Couldn’t agree more. The children at my nursery don’t have access to tablets, laptops, computer games and T.V. at nursery and NEVER ask about them. They are too busy playing, creating, building, experimenting, sharing, climbing, growing fruit and vegetables, making models, dancing, gardening, painting, drawing, dressing up, making up plays, examining butterflies, re-cycling, litter-picking and so on!! Their days are far too busy being socialable learners with good literacy and numeracy skills.

]]> By: Michael Jones /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8104 Mon, 28 Sep 2015 05:16:32 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8104 Hi Mine!
We have a ‘no phones and iPads’ rule at our table, for all family and visitors. If we are talking and someone says ‘I’ll just google that’ it usually means that they will check their emails first, make their factual point and then they are lost to the world of the Internet. We find that certain guests can’t do without their phones and iPads all the time, so we have banned all IT from the table.
We can’t blame children for being like that if that’s what they see from adults.
Great to hear from you!
Michael

]]> By: Mine /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8103 Sun, 27 Sep 2015 21:13:43 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8103 Like 80s music to my ears!

I seem to be constantly bemoaning the excessive use of ICT as part of our daily lives – especially when families are sat ‘together’ at the dining table, each glued to their IPhones, I Pads and mobile phones.

What happened to good old fashioned talking?

]]> By: Michael Jones /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8102 Sun, 27 Sep 2015 11:51:13 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8102 Hi Carol!
I’m with you all the way on this one!!
Thank you for replying!
Best wishes
Michael
Ps upcoming post will be about ‘glasses’ and another on collecting conkers!

]]> By: Carol Adams /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8101 Sun, 27 Sep 2015 10:20:24 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8101 Hearing Silver Machine always takes me back to my teens. It was always ‘the’ song to dance to at any disco. I seem to remember not moving my feet but lots of arm, head and body movements. IT does seem to have taken over children’s lives. I am a bit of a Luddite but accept IT has a place in society. However, if you ask me to name the favourite activities of our pre-school children I would say painting, play dough, sand, water and just generally digging in anything. The one thing these activities have in common is that they are messy. I have lost count of the number of times parents have said to me, “oh I don’t let them paint at home; I don’t like the mess.” I often wonder why these people introduced children into their well-ordered lives. Surely part of the joy of having children is to share a wide range of experiences with them. I’m sure part of the reason lots of people work in early years is so that they can continue with messy play once their children have grown, only to retire when they have grand-children to continue with. (That’s part of my plan.)

]]> By: Michael Jones /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8100 Sat, 26 Sep 2015 14:21:29 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8100 Hi Janine!
It’s so wonderful to hear from you out there on the edge of the forest in Cambodia!!
We don’t know how lucky we are. I must admit I have just had a good old cry thinking about what you have written about your older students. While I was worrying about fashion and what type of image I wanted to project, people in Cambodia were living in labour camps and being brutally murdered for being educated.
It’s nice to know about computers, and even own a laptop and have wifi, but things have got totally out of hand over here. Visiting your school was our most vivid memory of Cambodia (and we have so many memories of that amazing country!)
Keep up the great work and I’m delighted to have made you laugh!!! Those certainly were crazy days back in the 70s: the clothes were just so impractical, for a start! Who invented platform shoes? Luckily I progressed to ‘desert boots’ (those nasty suede shoes) but you had to clean them with a special spray and your feet were either stinking with sweat or soaking wet, as they just absorbed rain water like a sponge, and then the surface dried to a nasty crust and it didn’t matter how much you sprayed them with deodorant or splashed Old Spice or Brut (or even your girlfriend’s ‘Charlie’ or even ‘Tramp’) inside them, they still stank like hell when they dried. And why would anyone want to wear an Afghan coat? The Afghan goat herders must have died laughing when they saw the European hippies in Kabul wearing their old cast-offs!
And what was patchouli oil all about?!?

I’ve almost finished my book on children’s early writing and it should be out in January.
Very best wishes and keep up the great work st Kep Gardens
Michael

]]> By: Janine /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8099 Sat, 26 Sep 2015 12:36:08 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8099 I love reading your newsletters. I am still laughing at this one. ” I stormed out of the house, and nearly broke my neck as my 38-inch flares became trapped under my six-inch platform shoes.” I have a mental image of this and can’t stop laughing. I think it’s because I can relate to those times and some of the things you say bring back funny memories. We had some great times in those days. They only seem like yesterday! I suppose the young ones have their great times too but in a different way maybe.

Our children in Cambodia certainly don’t have to worry about computers as most of them don’t even know what the word means. They love chasing bubbles and trying to blow them themselves. Our older class (and I am talking from 16 to early 30’s) love playing the games that the young kids play. I think because they never had childhoods themselves, always study, study, study, work, work, work to try and improve their situation.

Anyway I look forward to a good laugh next newsletter.
Cheers, Janine

]]> By: Michael Jones /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8098 Fri, 25 Sep 2015 17:46:06 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8098 Hi Debbie
Thank you for replying. I feel that it’s all about being able to find a balance. Unfortunately many/most computer games (even educational ones) are designed to be almost addictive.
Parents have the responsibility to make that balance, especially when their own lives are dominated by IT.
Very best wishes
Michael

]]> By: Debbie /2015/09/young-children-do-not-need-computers-they-need-bubbles-and-balloons-instead-or-hawkwind-their-part-in-my-downfall/#comment-8097 Fri, 25 Sep 2015 16:07:28 +0000 /?p=1526#comment-8097 I agree that young children should not be using computers and phones to be entertained. I have 2 grandchildren aged 4 and 1 and they both like to play outdoors and indoors and using materials that we find for arts and crafts etc and even simple peepo games they enjoy more than being sat in front of the telly and computers. It has got to be interaction in children’s lives with people for them to get along socially and emotionally in their lives.

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