Does Your Kid Want To Use A PC? Teach Them How To Use A Mouse!

 

Children from toddler age upwards are obsessed with computers. They want to do everything that their bigger siblings can do, so it won’t be long before they want to use computers themselves. There’s no point in resisting it – they’ll get there sooner or later, and used in the right way, the internet can be a valuable learning tool. These days there are entire sites devoted to toddlers, helping them to learn new skills and creating a great place for entertainment. Your child needs to be able to use a mouse in order to access this information, so when you feel like the time is right, you need to teach them. Here’s how you do it: image source here..

Get a Child-Friendly Mouse

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A mouse that toddlers can use should have big buttons and be easy to manoeuvre. Slow down the mouse speed in your computer’s settings – this will help your child track the movement and point accurately.  Make the arrow nice and big too, and perhaps make it a really bright colour so it’s easy enough to spot. All this will give your toddler the best chance of getting the hang of it.

Demonstration Time!

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Show your toddler how it works. Using a toddler-friendly website, demonstrate how you click on various items. Show them the difference between clicking and double clicking (but most toddler sites use only the single click to make it easier for them). Have a look for toddler games and training aids online – there are loads.

Let Them Do it Themselves

There’s an old teaching mantra that goes something like this: ‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand’. This means that telling your child how to use a mouse will be instantly forgotten. Showing them will help, but the only thing that will really nail it into their memory is to let them do it themselves. After you have demonstrated the mouse technique, let them have a go. It will take them a while, and it may be frustrating to watch them struggle, but they will suss it out for themselves in the end. Leave them to it – they’ll crack it!

Once they’re in the swing of it, teach them extra skills such as scrolling, using the mouse wheel and selecting. They will love being in charge – so let them experiment with clicking between sites and scrolling up and down.



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Keep Them Safe

Once your toddler is freewheeling on the internet, it’s essential that you have parental controls in place. You would be horrified if they tripped over a site they shouldn’t see, and we all know the perils of the internet. Make sure your computer is set up so that no dodgy site can be accessed accidentally, and download some parental control software to make sure your children are extra safe. Then it’s just a matter of limiting their internet usage for a balanced experience – your parental controls can help you do this too. Make sure they still indulge in plenty of outdoor activity too – you don’t want to create a couch potato!

Today's guest author, Jim Powell, is a software reviewer at Well Researched Reviews, a software reviewing firm. He enjoys cooking and enjoys calling over friends and trying new recipes in his spare time.