Today, the youth is becoming more and more computer literate and they are getting younger and younger. Eventually they will need to create documents and projects for school, which means they will need to use the printer. This can be a scary, and sometimes daunting task for a parent. A printer has a lot of moving parts and external components such as printer ink cartridges that can poses a greater chance of accidents for younger children. It is imperative to teach your child how to properly use your home printer to avoid any possible mishaps. The main thing you need to stress even before teaching them the functionality of the printer is that it is an electrical device and is plugged into a sock; therefore it comes with the same dangers as other things that are plugged in.

Here are a few tips to get your child familiar with the printer:

1. Teach your child what each of the buttons on the printer does. This will decrease your child’s curiosity and lessen the chances for wasteful printing or messes. If your child is just beginning to read, refer to the icons and symbols on the printer. Get them to repeat when each one is used
2. If you have a newer printer model with a display, scroll through the menu and show your child which icons are for adults and which are for kids.
3. If your child is old enough to load paper or change out printer ink cartridges, show them exactly how to secure the printer ink and what amount of paper to load. This would be a good time to teach them about paper jams and how they can greatly damage the printer. Most printers have arrows and other symbols to explain the proper direction and amount of paper to load or where to put the printer ink cartridges.
4. If your printer has a scanner or other additional features, be sure to teach your child what they are and when they are used.
5. Show your child where the print menu is in a text document. Explain what the “preview” feature is and how to read the page.
6. Go over each of the printing options including: print size, number of copies, which pages to print, etc.This will help cut down on excess printer ink usage.
7. Leave instructions for what your child should do in the event that there is some type of error of malfunction with the printer. Let them know that if a problem were to occur that it is not their fault as printers can be very tricky and complicated to use, especially for someone their age.

As your going over the function of the computer, you should also establish rules and limitations for printer usage. Some parameters could be to limit their usage to only when supervised or limit the amount of copies they can make. Proper instruction from the beginning will ensure your child is capable of using the printer with minimal difficulty. You should also keep in mind that your child could be learning something different at school, so you need to establish an open channel of communication. It is a good idea to ask them what they already know and how much exposure they’ve had to operating the printer. You may find out that teaching your child to use your printer is as easy as showing them how it compares to the one they already use at school, which will save you big on printer ink cartridges refills.

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Computer Hardware & Accessories