[NTLUG:Discuss] Can Linux help me limit my kids' time on the computer?

[Lance Simmons]

On 12/26/06, steve <sjbaker1 at airmail.net> wrote:

> But if you REALLY must do this (sending the message "I don't
> trust you" to your child).

It's not a trust issue.  It's that neither of us is really sure how
much time he's spending on the computer, and we need a way to find
out.  We've settled on an amount of time per week we agree he can
spend on the computer, but so far there's no easy way of monitoring
it.  I want an easy way to check how much time he's spent in the past
7 days.

The "last" command is promising (and I can't believe I didn't know
about it), but what a pain sorting through the output, and what about
all the login shells that are run during one session?  Isn't there a
program that can analyze the logs and give an accurate number of hours
he has used the computer each day?  It needs to be something he can
easily use to tell how much time he's on the computer.