Auto Shutdown

[Sameye]

Hey,
Was wondering about auto shutdown software's. Do they work well? and can anyone suggest a good one? Trying to get my kid off the computer before midnight, he's 13 and doesnt need to get up at the crack of noon.

[awaj]

I personally would tell him to go to bed at an earlier time if I were in your shoes. I remember at that age I was forced to go to bed at 9PM till I was a Senior in high school or there abouts.

To create the auto shutdown thing, follow these steps here. (http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=316)

Then move the shortcut to some folder he won't look through. Find Windows Task Scheduler, and set it to shut down at 12 every day. I'm not sure how well it works, but in theory it should work fine.

[classicsoftware]

The trouble is he can turn it back on again. If you can't make him go to bed at 12, I would get up and take the computer away from him and smack on the head with keyboard. Three or four days w/o computer will cure him...

[Sylvander]

"Leave them alone and they'll come home, wagging their tails behind them."

If you interfere too much in their lives you may find that in later years they won't come home very often [if ever].
Because you taught them to dislike you. :(

Each of us should:
"Eat when you're hungry, drink when you're dry, laugh when you're happy, and live 'till you die."

That means your offspring should LEARN FOR THEMSELVES how to [listen to the needs of their own body and mind, then] exercise SELF CONTROL [in meeting those needs].
It's important to learn how to self control, rather than how to ABDICATE self control and instead accept that others do the controlling.
Your part is to DEMONSTRATE BY DOING, those things that aught to be done, and how it should best be done.
To act as a good example.
Have you noticed that...
Even against your wishes and desires...
You almost unerringly end up copying the characteristics of your parents?

What you may end up teaching him instead...
Is how to INTERFERE in an authoritarian manner...
in the lives of others.

[awaj]

Good point, I work with junior highers though. At that age, they don't know what really is best for their bodies. I personally would set a reasonable bed time, and tell him to go to bed then or else (and actually follow through...)

[jlreich]

I am with Classic and awaj. If they can't adhere to the rules then the computer goes bye bye.

Although I trust my daughters when they are grounded from their computers I usually set my own password so they can't get into it if they were to decide to try without me knowing it. Just a matter of removing the temptation. :p And don't forget to set the administrators password.

If they are savvy enough to get by the password and actually do it then I would yank the ram out of the machine and lock it up. ;)

Yes, some would say I am an arse, but my kids respect me and yes they still love me. ;)

[Sylvander]

1. "I personally would set a reasonable bed time, and tell him to go to bed then or else (and actually follow through...)"
Been there, tried that, it didn't work.
What a carry-on it was!
I'd set a time for my son to be in from the outdoors playing football etc [9:00 p.m. methinks].
The rule was: If he was 10 min late, the next night he had to be in 10 min before 9:00.
Every piece of time he took had to be paid back.
It just became a battle of wills.

I remember my mother telling me of the battle of wills she had with my older sister.
It didn't work there either.
[They never had any trouble with me, so my mother said]

And my father doing it too; and it didn't work for him either.

That's why I tried a totally different method.
And it seems to have worked.
My son is now a teacher [has a BSc in Physics], and my daughter is a researcher at the no.1 university in Scotland [BSc in Biology].
Researching possible treatments/cures for flu would you believe. :)

Self-motivation is all-important.
Kids need to be in control of their own lives.
To have a stake in their own success.
THEY choose where they want to go, and what they want to do, and why, and when, and how.

Their parents job is to help them "fly" in the path of life, and demonstrate how it might be done.
One method that they can see works.

[awaj]

Sylvander, Haven't you heard of "spare the rod, spoil the child"? if my parents were in similar situation you had with the 9 o'clock curfew and it became a battle of wills, I would loose, soon after the 1st night.

This up coming generation however is different, and there is far more things that are dangerous at night. especially on the web. After parents go to bed, it's far easier to go on sites that they know they shouldn't.

[Sylvander]

1. "Haven't you heard of "spare the rod, spoil the child"?"
Certainly have, from decades back.
I went to Sunday-school as a child, and spent LOTS of time reading the Bible, and the Book of Mormon, and the Quran, and various books on psychology.
Decades of practical experience has taught me that "they" [in the Christian Bible] got that one wrong.
Just like "they" have, and are still trying, to convince me that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is wrong.

2. "and it became a battle of wills, I would loose, soon after the 1st night"
My son didn't lose [I wouldn't want him to], and I didn't lose; there are no winners or losers in our house, just people who try to demonstrate respect for each others rights whilst meeting their own personal needs.

(a) As a [fairly new] teacher, my son is confronted by this kind of situation, and we have discussed at length the difficulties he faces in the classroom, with a minority of troublesome pupils [no names mentioned].
Parents might be drug addicts, or in the course of a divorce; all kinds of problems.
The difficulty in that situation is that he cannot afford to be so liberal as at home.
He is required to maintain good order amongst a large number of young teenagers, many of whom are beginning to assert what they newly see as their right to a "Self".
But they probably don't understand it as that.
A self that is independent and unique.
On the one hand that is a good thing...
But the troublesome individuals see that as an opportunity to give teacher a hard time.
And teacher MUST maintain control and good order so that every pupil has the opportunity to be PRODUCTIVE, and SUCCESSFUL.
The problem is that it's very difficult to do with a large group, things that are possible with a small group.