From mid-November, Miss Six had Santa Claus in her sights. She knew what she wanted and she missed no opportunity to let the big fella know what she was after. She wrote letters to the North Pole. She sat on the great man’s knee and batted her eyelids. She even let me know what she wanted, just in case the man in red didn’t deliver. She wanted one thing and one thing only..... a laptop.

Wrong.

Upon opening this most-anticipated present, Miss Six simply sighed.

“What’s wrong?”, I asked. This machine had games. It had songs. It had more computing power than the Apollo 11 spacecraft that took Neil Armstrong to the moon. It could even speak French for crying out loud!

“It’s a fake laptop Daddy”, she said. “I wanted a real laptop”.

This really got me thinking. My six year old understands the difference between toys and tools. She knows that her Hannah Montana device is a toy --- a simulation of the real world that she can use to play games and role play. The laptop is fun, but she has plenty of toys already.

Miss Six knows that a real laptop is not a toy. It allows her to communicate with real people. To do serious work. To create. To learn. This is what she wants.

Back in the 19th century, children had access to exactly the same tools as the greatest intellectuals of the age. Somewhere along the line, however, our education system decided that students would remain permanently frozen in the 19th century while only the adults got to move with the times.

Why was this? Is it because technology is expensive and children might break it? If so, what does this say about the value that we place on our children’s education.

Is it because we do not believe that children of this age are not developmentally ready to use computers? Perhaps, but then I also hear educators comment on the ease with which children seem to become magically competent with technology (This is generally expressed as “Crikey, these kids know more than I do”).

Is it because there are risks associated with using real computers? (Note: From hereon in, “a real computer” will be defined as ‘one that connects to the Internet’). Well, yes there are risks. But how will she learn how to deal with these risks unless she encounters them with a trusted adult standing by her side? Surely, you don’t teach a child to swim by keeping them away from water and then throwing them in the deep end when they turn sixteen!

At my school, we have decided that nine years of age is the right age for students to have access to their own laptop computer. So, where does this leave Miss Six?

Well, right now she’s sitting at the kitchen table playing mathsbrain on Mum’s real laptop. And loving it.