Should I allow my child to have a computer in his bedroom?

I would recommend that you do not allow your child to have a computer in his or her bedroom. The reason for that is twofold. Number one, you want to know what they are doing on the computer. You want to make sure you are able to supervise what websites they're going to, who they're talking to or communicating with, and what they're watching.

The second part of that is that they really should not spend any more time than 2 hours total a day on what we call screen time, which would be TV, computer, video games, game boys, any of that sedentary electronic time, because it really impairs their ability to get out and be active. It's been shown to be an indicator for risk of childhood obesity to have more than 2 hours a day of that kind of screen time. And you just need to know what they're doing on the computer. If it's in their bedroom, then you're less likely to see what they're doing. Ideally it should be in the kitchen or living room, or somewhere parents can walk by, check on things, look at what they're doing, have parental control over their access.