I work at home and have 3 computers on my desk. If I need to work when my daughter is home, she asks to play on one of the computers - she prefers barbie.com or webkinz.com. The advertisements can be irritating but no more so than regular TV. She has learned to ignore them as I have.
I do not have a problem with my 5 year old on the computer because I am beside her and I see everything. My friend was an "Internet Crimes against Children" detective and she has educated me well on the potential dangers of computers. My child will NEVER have a computer in her bedroom as long as she lives under my roof.
If there is internet in the house, then I believe it is a parent's responsibility to learn as much about it as their children do.
I would have them try www.neopets.com
They have many rules to protect the younger crowd it attracts and luckily they enforce them. IE you cant say any bad words on the 'neoboards' and children under 13 cant have 'neomail'.
My 5 1/2 year old is only allowed to play on playhousedisney.com there are no pop ups or advertisments that I have seen. They are shows he's familiar with and the games are easy enough that he's now calling me every 2 minutes to come help him. I love it!
We are big animal lovers at our house. www.kindnews.org is safe, with no popups, from the HSUS. and this is the super long link to the ASPCA Animal Land for kids http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=kids_home
You can also find a button for it on the ASPCA.org main page.
and my daughter used to love www.starfall.com when she was 5-6 years old. no popups there. =)
http://shelteroftheheart.blogpspot.com
DadsWorld.com, rif.org,theideabox.com,familyfun.com,dltk-kids.com,kids.nationalgeographic.com,paulysplayhouse.com,familyeducation.com, a few of these are ones the preschool put on a list to try so haven't tried them all yet, if they are on the computer I am there to help them as the oldest is only 4
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Nickjr.com, pbskids.org, barbiegirls.com… there’s no shortage of Web sites targeted to your kids. What’s been your experience with these sites? Are you around when your kids are playing them? Do the ads and commercialization bother them and you? Has your child inadvertently downloaded something you didn't expect – or want – on your computer?