Bad idea imo, I agree wholeheartedly with your girlfriend.
Your hypothetical kid has their teens onwards to mess around with online gaming and computers and get dragged into online drama, political debates, twitter, getting trolled and griefed, and experience all the sucky side of the netz and gaming (this will happen regardless of any filters or rules you enforce, NEVER under estimate the human capacity to be a dousche and get under your skin with the tools available).
Also don't kid yourself and make the same mistake millions of parents have no doubt made throughout the ages: your kid will get the better of you and learn to sneak around you if need be. They will have lived their whole life under you after all, and know your quirks and weaknesses, you can't always be on guard like some sorta buckingham palace sentry. Nothing to do with "being a parent" or not, because no human parents have the gift of omnipotence.
Also why not let them enjoy their relatively innocent childhood?
Let them learn what it's like to not be super dependent on the computer like is increasingly the norm. Cos once they are on board the hi tech train, they won't ever be able to get off it (dramatic exageration!), and this way they can focus more on developping their real life social interaction skills, cos trust me that's a ***** to work on later in life if it's not something you picked up when young.
Stick to single player games and consoles imo (no online stuff). When they reach teen age, then let them loose on the world if that's what you want. My 2 cents for what it's worth, but good on you two for thinking about stuff like this imo, already a sign of a not too bad parent ;P
Your hypothetical kid has their teens onwards to mess around with online gaming and computers and get dragged into online drama, political debates, twitter, getting trolled and griefed, and experience all the sucky side of the netz and gaming (this will happen regardless of any filters or rules you enforce, NEVER under estimate the human capacity to be a dousche and get under your skin with the tools available).
Also don't kid yourself and make the same mistake millions of parents have no doubt made throughout the ages: your kid will get the better of you and learn to sneak around you if need be. They will have lived their whole life under you after all, and know your quirks and weaknesses, you can't always be on guard like some sorta buckingham palace sentry. Nothing to do with "being a parent" or not, because no human parents have the gift of omnipotence.
Also why not let them enjoy their relatively innocent childhood?
Let them learn what it's like to not be super dependent on the computer like is increasingly the norm. Cos once they are on board the hi tech train, they won't ever be able to get off it (dramatic exageration!), and this way they can focus more on developping their real life social interaction skills, cos trust me that's a ***** to work on later in life if it's not something you picked up when young.
Stick to single player games and consoles imo (no online stuff). When they reach teen age, then let them loose on the world if that's what you want. My 2 cents for what it's worth, but good on you two for thinking about stuff like this imo, already a sign of a not too bad parent ;P
