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Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

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Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#112

Post by daniellarusso »

This made my day. Thank you for sharing this.

I had a Tomy Tutor computer that I made my mom enter BASIC programs into, but she did not have any development experience.

I really like your to-do list to keep track of accomplishments and stay within scope.

Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#113

Post by ajfjrbfbf »

Make sure they're bored out of their mind all the time. No Fortnite, no YouTube, no tablet. (steers them clear of ADHD too) Either they go play outside with their friends or they hack what they can on some outdated/underpowered device you give them (Arduino, TI84, Arch linux boot screen, etc). Read them technical books before bed.

Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#114

Post by unemphysbro »

My brother is 11 and he's more of a hands-on type of person (he's built some furniture, wooden stencils and functional crossbow; terrifying for our parents) and doesn't like to sit in-front of a computer for more time then school necessitates.

Because of this I figured I wouldn't force him to learn programming, rather nudge him towards it. I bought him a Tynker membership and he seems to enjoy that. It seems like a fun, gentle introduction into programming.

https://www.tynker.com/

Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#116

Post by mantap »

colinmhayes wrote: post #9

Your kid is 7. I'm pretty sure hat I was eating dirt when I was 7. If he has showed you he's interested in programming then go ahead, but make sure you're not projecting your own interests onto your kid. It'll lead to resentment in 7 or 8 years.

If they as teenagers resent you for teaching them programming then the problem is not that you have taught them too much, the problem is that you haven't taught them the harsh reality of human life. We programmers live especially privileged lives and it's important to not let your kids fall into the misapprehension that the privilege we, and by extension they, enjoy is somehow normal or expected.

Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#117

Post by cortesoft »

jedberg wrote: post #37
colinmhayes wrote: post #9

Your kid is 7. I'm pretty sure hat I was eating dirt when I was 7. If he has showed you he's interested in programming then go ahead, but make sure you're not projecting your own interests onto your kid. It'll lead to resentment in 7 or 8 years.

As a counterpoint, I started programming on my own at 7 with no guidance. Mainly because my IBM PC booted into a BASIC window if you didn't put the DOS disk in. I asked my mom to get my some magazines from the library so I could copy the games in them. So it's not totally odd for a 7 year old (or I was odd, which is quite possible).

Same for me... 2nd grade, a colleague of my dad saw I liked playing on the computer and gave me some old BASIC programming books. I distinctly remember reading about PRINT and running to my mom and dad to tell them I could make the computer output something.

This was in 1991 or so, and the books were from 1978..... I had no idea even where to TYPE the stuff I was learning into. My dad’s friend came over and gave me Qbasic. 30 years later, I still love to code.

Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#118

Post by djeiasbsbo »

ajfjrbfbf wrote: post #113

Make sure they're bored out of their mind all the time. No Fortnite, no YouTube, no tablet. (steers them clear of ADHD too) Either they go play outside with their friends or they hack what they can on some outdated/underpowered device you give them (Arduino, TI84, Arch linux boot screen, etc). Read them technical books before bed.

> "steers them clear of ADHD too"

Could you elaborate on that a bit more? I have ADHD and am very interested in anything about it but have never heard anything like that.

Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#119

Post by generalcalm »

It is awesome that you are having fun with your son, and actively curating a path to fun with programming. It is very likely he will look back at the time you spent with him in this area with great fondness. If he wants to continue to program later or not, this quality time is the most important. Kids want to spend time with their dads.

Re: Ask HN: Please share your experience teaching your kids to program

#120

Post by markc »

Didn't work:

  - BASIC, Ruby, Python, Java setups + intros, tutorials.
  - LEGO Mindstorms
  - Scratch, Squeak
  - Coding classes / camps
Note that I "made these things "available" but never pushed. I'd set up the environment, show him to to edit and run the code, and pointed him to tutorials. After some time went by I'd show him the next thing. Rinse and repeat.

Worked:

A Texas Instruments programmable calculator. He read the manual, played with it a bit, then found out he could automate some of his homework. Then found out he could make simple games. Then fairly impressive games.

After that, he did a bunch of Minecraft programming and loved it.

Fast forward a decade and he smokes through Advent of Code without breaking a sweat, and is a co-founder and CTO.

I.e. all my efforts to pique interest didn't have any effect that I could see. He had to find his own way to it.

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