Growing 3 more MacUsers

[stubeeef]

I have 3 daughters, (even the dog is a girl), and have just been delivered an eMac 1.25 w/combo and 512ram. I will either keep it for me and give them my dual 450 w/1gb ram or let em have it. They are 5-8 yrs old and I am very protective, I want them to enjoy what little childhood they get. TO THE POINT-is there an EFFECTIVE childrens browser for 10.3...?

[VooDooPope]

The most recent Mac Addict mag had a review of a child friendly browser that they gave favorable reviews. I think it was called rainbow or something like that.

[stubeeef]

resurrcting this instead of starting a new one. Got Bumpercar (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/72007/wo/sV4kIXP1PLrz2YHh7LbsOkncWxT/1.0.11.1.0.6.25.7.11.1.1) for the kids, and it has been great. They are wondering around preset areas and I have manually added a few. Some sites don't respond because it is not a popular browser, but I don't spend hours over their shoulders either.

[jsw]

Good to know. My 4.5-year-old daughter has become very interested in using the Mac. While I have her account set up to auto-mount several CD images so she can play her games (which are actually educational, but I won't tell her that), she's lately wanted to go to places like noggin.com, playhousedisney.com, and nickjr.com. So far, so good, as she isn't able (yet) to type in URLs and I've removed all the other ones from her bookmarks.

However, I've been looking for a way to enhance her web access, since there's a lot of cool (and free) stuff out there... along with all the scary things. Good to hear of a good product.

[stubeeef]

Good to know. My 4.5-year-old daughter has become very interested in using the Mac. While I have her account set up to auto-mount several CD images so she can play her games (which are actually educational, but I won't tell her that), she's lately wanted to go to places like noggin.com, playhousedisney.com, and nickjr.com. So far, so good, as she isn't able (yet) to type in URLs and I've removed all the other ones from her bookmarks.

However, I've been looking for a way to enhance her web access, since there's a lot of cool (and free) stuff out there... along with all the scary things. Good to hear of a good product.

Put the my girls on an eMac in the bonus room, with the simplified finder (works great) each girl has a folder in the dock.
They have a wireless connect and can go to a lot of places, I have set the program to only go 1 link beyond the allowed sites. You can add specific sites with your password. I added www.americangirl.com Also has a feature to limit the amount of surf time in a day, and hours you can search - I don't allow surfing after 8pm - no one gets up at 3 am sneaks in and plays all night.

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Next couple of months, untill Tiger, I think you're stuck with 3rd party stuff. But come 10.4 you'll get Parental Controls (http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/parental.html) built-in to OS X... :)

[Apple]

my sister is 8 and she has a mac. I set up simplified finder, and she does her Homework on it. She also has like 5,000 songs in iTunes from all her CD's I put on for her. But ya know.. I still haven't gotten a thank you.

[miloblithe]

Thanks for posting this stuff. I imagine that in a couple years I'll be making similar decisions about my kids (who still don't exist yet), the Internet, computers, and so on. My wife and I aren't quite there yet (getting out of grad school and resecuring an income is step one), but kids are part of the near-term plan. Envisioning them using macs only sweetens the deal!

[stubeeef]

my sister is 8 and she has a mac. I set up simplified finder, and she does her Homework on it. She also has like 5,000 songs in iTunes from all her CD's I put on for her. But ya know.. I still haven't gotten a thank you.

Worldbook has been my kids nearly most favorite thing, talk about a homework machine, reports fly out of that thing without me having to do much at all. I like that. ;)

Simplified finder is great, when you set up an account (for those like me without a lot of knowledge) go under limitations and select simplified, it allows you to select which applications they are allowed as well.
I also set it up with no password and it starts to their account as well.