Should my 13 year old son be allowed to have a laptop in his room?

Question

My 13 year old son wants badly to have a laptop/desktop computer in his room. He is responsible enough not to abuse such a privalige by going on p**n sites, downloading music illegally, etc. He is motivated in school and gets straight A's. He also has an interest in mathematics and computers. This would be his first "personal" personal computer. Please tell me your advice and experiences. If you think it would be appropriate, I'd like to know so I can start looking at models for his before school.

By the way, money isn't a big factor. I would still get him a PC and not a Mac, however, because he prefers Vista to OSX.

Answer 1

I am 13 and female and I have a computer in my room. And it's like a computer computer. I am like your son but not smart w/ computers. I would let him. P.S. I don't abuse it! If you are that worried set certain time limits.

Answer 2

if you think he's mature and responsible enough, then go for it. but i would pop in his room every now and again just to see what he's doing. that doesn't mean you are like a prison warden, but just because he does have a computer in his room, U ARE STILL the PARENT, and everybody slip up from time to time regardless how mature or responsible they may be. i think parental controls should be put on just in case and you can always look at the internets history. to see what sites he's been to.

Answer 3

i got one when i was 12 and im 13 now too. DON'T get vista. thats what i have and its terrible. its slow, confusing, and i have to use my moms computer to play sims games. i have a gig and a half of memory and its still incredibly slow. i like windows XP. so id get that. get anything but vista.  vista loses internet a lot too. what i mean is, out of nowhere my internet will go down but the rest of the house (my moms and my brothers computers) are still fine. oh and i think my brother was about that age when he got a computer. and if you're wondering what kind to get, Dell is really good. and they have different colors! :D  hope this helps!

EDIT: and if you're worried about things he might do on the computer, you can put up parental controls in the control panel.

Answer 4

he sounds pretty mature, so yeah, I don't see anything wrong with that

Answer 5

once he goes to high school his gonna get interested in s*x and his gonna go to a p**n sight hey its the secret life on a american teenage boy :-)

Answer 6

Absolutely not! Put the computer in a common room. He may be very responsible but kids can happen upon a lot of things accidentally. Besides, isn't 13 a little young to have your very own computer (or would it be a shared computer)? Also, be sure and set up rules and guidelines for when he has friends over. You definitely don't want friends on the computer in a room away from everyone else in the family.

Answer 7

get him one

Answer 8

Why a laptop?  Go with a desktop comuter in a common area.  An idle mind...

Answer 9

yes get him one

Answer 10

I was your sons age when I got my first real computer in my room- I loved it, I still maintained my grades and never got into trouble. Just remind him of the dangers of the internet, and he'll be fine.

Answer 11

I got a laptop in my room and my parents trust me just fine. BUT start  out with no internet then check if his homework and all his grades (in your opinion, of course) then start giving him internet. If you have doubts, try a internet filter if you think he would go on p**n sites or something.

Answer 12

Go ahead. :)

As long as he shows you he won't abuse the privilege of having a computer in his room, he should be alright. Also making sure that it doesn't take away from school work, and he's not on it all the time. :)

Answer 13

I had my own computer since i was about 11. And the truth is no matter what you're son is going to be interested in p**n wether it be because of the computer or even something he see's on the t.v. it's natural in a boys life to be interested in some of those things so just because you might look in the history of his computer and see those things it's okay because it's natural.

Even books teach him about p**n so you cannot deny him of a computer because of p**n. Regardless of if he looks at p**n or not he's still going to be doing the same in school.. you just have to let your little boy mature.

And you know what teens need their privacy, you have to let them grow. So it's his first personal computer, if you say you can trust him i don't see the problem, but please don't go snooping around his computer to see what he's looking at because think if you we're 13 and you're mom was looking through your computer respect your childs privacy and get him the computer you sound like a very lucky woman with a well brought up child

Answer 14

i dont see a problem with it. i got my own laptop when i was 13.

Answer 15

Sure... he can have a laptop in his room, but he doesn't need to have the internet too.

Answer 16

why not?

and get a mac, they are 984736976498465 times better.. really.

Answer 17

"He is responsible enough not to abuse such a privilege by going on p**n sites, downloading music illegally"

Many Christian married men do that ........ you need to speak to him about that before you just "assume" he won't do those things.

However; you should give him a chance. 13 year old is not too young to have a laptop in his room.

Answer 18

sure why not

Answer 19

yeah thats fine....get him some sort of Dell, ther the best, if ur going to have Vista on it, make sure its one of the better versions, like Vista Home Premium....avoid Basic.

Answer 20

Ya, go for it. As long as you setup some rules and guidelines, and watch over him once and while, he will eventually mature and not do anything bad. Well he could very well possibly look at a p**n site, but that's natural for a guy his age. If he ever does, then lose the internet for a week and tell him why it was taken away. That's what my parents did to me and it worked well! Good Luck!

Answer 21

he's thirteen. The only reason a 13yr old wants a computer in his room is so he can jerk the chain. He's 13. He'll use it for hw aswell so get it for him, just don't think he's not going to use it for p**n because every   male over the age of ten with access to the Internet will use it for p**n. Don't worry its natural, just don't blame me if you notice the keyboard is sticky.

Answer 22

it sounds like he mature and responsible enough to get one so I see no problem in getting him a computer. and you could give him restrictions on websites and stuff.

Answer 23

I got in a lot of trouble when I was 13 and using a computer in my room, it was when chatrooms really began to be popular. I don't think you should let him have that priviledge quite yet. There is nothing wrong with him doing his homework in a community space. I would also not doubt your 13 year old son not to look at p**n. That is a fallacy to say "My son gets good grades so he won't look at p**n." I am sure your son is a great kid, but he has hormones, he is curious. peer pressure, don't doubt that he won't abuse it!!

When I was 13 my friends and I would talk to guys online and a couple times we would even meet them because we were bored and it was something to do. We also looked at pornographic websites because we were curious about men. We were known as "good girls" too.

Answer 24

You could start him off slowly with a laptop with no internet connection.

If he is truely concentrating on his grades & homework assignments he won't care less if it doesn't have internet.

Step two is to get an internet connection but only you know the password - you enter the password when he needs to use the internet and give him a time limit - say 1 hr to reasearch what he is looking for - then you sign him out.

Step three - full access to internet** on his own once he has shown you he is capable and trustworthy.

** always ger a NetNanny or similar 'screening' software installed.

The steps may sound a bit controlling at first but would you give him a car without teaching him to drive responsibly first ??

if he really is responsible he could be at step three in say two months....

Answer 25

Absolutely. Just think what it would have meant to you to have that privacy when you were that age.

Answer 26

I think he sounds responsible enough to handle it. Just be sure to set a few parental blocks on the inappropriate sites. He'll understand you doing this, and knows he shouldn't be on those sites anyways. It's good for him and gives him a sense of privacy, and with those blocks, you'll be assured that he'll be safe.  

Answer 27

Yes give him one but with restrictions. The best con artists (for lack of better words) are the ones that know they have your trust. So setup parental settings on it. For example, i share my laptop w/my kids, and have set up an independent accounts for them, but since i'm the administrator, i can limit what sites they go on, and also filter obscene materials (games, pictures, ads) from coming thru.

Good Luck

OneLove

T

Answer 28

im 14 and i have one in my room. and i know better than to do anything im not supposed to on it cuz when i get grounded it gets taken away. and im pretty sure my parents look at it, lol. i just use it for homework, and talking to friends and stuff. nothing bad.

Answer 29

im thirteen and i have a laptop in my room. i have a dell inspiron 1521 and it is the best!!!! it has windows vista 2. i actually have almost exactly the same interests as him, and the same grades. even though im a girl and enjoy soccer too. make sure to get him norton security scan or some sort of scanner for viruses because it really works and keeps the computer running fast.