Does it surprise you that kids are online more than their parents? It does me, but maybe it shouldn’t, given the rate at which my own two young ones beg to log on to all their favorite sites.

Get this: A new study from Nielsen Online found that nearly 16 million U.S. children ages 2 to 11 were online in May — that’s about 9.5 percent of Internet users. In the past five years, that’s a growth of 18 percent (and the total number of kiddos under the age of 14 is declining too), compared to a 10 percent growth among all Internet users. Some other interesting tidbits: Boys are online more than girls, girls view more Web pages than boys and kids are beginning to create their own content too — they’re not just passive viewers.

So, are your kids computer ready? Or not?

Photo: amazon.com