The Children's Partnership

About the author: The Children's Partnership is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to inform leaders and the public about the needs of America's 70 million children, and to engage them in ways that benefit children.

The information age has arrived, and good parents should prepare their children for it by promoting computer literacy as soon as children are ready for it. Children as young as two and three can play with a computer in the home, and by age eight children can begin using the Internet for school reports. Parents should especially encourage girls to become comfortable with computers—by the teen years many girls lose interest in information technology—since computer literacy is important for both men and women.

The information age is arriving at lightning speed. Children and young people...