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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

#61

Post by jazzyjackson »

When I was a kid I was totally self directed with a bunch of LEGO mindstorms motors and sensors. I would build little carnival games that had all kinds of conditional branches, plus rovers and walking robots with complicated gear trains. I think playing with gears set my mind up for building programs more than dragging the block based if statements on the screen.

I can also recommend the classic book "Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas" by Seymour Papert, it talks about the LOGO turtle and has some really powerful ideas about empathy in general, with a special case for thinking from the perspective of a machine.

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

#62

Post by tomxor »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #43
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.

The best thing we can do for our children right now is keep them AWAY FROM SCREENS!

Keep in mind that there is a colossal difference between a screen that boots into a basic interpreter (BBC/Atari/Amiga style) and a screen that boots into iOS/android/youtube/bubblepop-whatever-the-current-attention-grabby-brain-dead-game-of-the-moment-is

If my kid is interested in the former I would not stop them, because it's an effective tool to learn about thinking, just like other toys... but the later I'm essentially treating as soft drugs, they ain't using that shit until they are an adult.

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

#63

Post by lmilcin »

dave_sid wrote: post #59
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.

I agree completely. I don’t understand the recent trend to believe that we need to get kids into software engineering as soon as they pop out of the birth canal. My friend is an accountant. If he asked me for advice on how to make spreadsheets more fun for his kid I’d think he had something against his kid. In the words of Pink Floyd “Hey! Nerds! Leave them kids alone!”

> I don’t understand the recent trend

You are mistaken about that "recent" part. Parents have always wanted their kids to go to best schools and learn for well paying, prestige jobs. It's just that what is well paying has changed.

Why wouldn't I want my kids to be interested in something that will get them good start in life, that could be groundwork for their future careers ASSUMING it is fun for them and they are doing this out of their own volition?

That would teach them you can have fun doing science or technology rather than treating is as a necessary evil?

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

#65

Post by itronitron »

MyHypatia wrote: post #4
itronitron wrote: post #2

Each of my children started coding through Minecraft and Scratch, so I think that is a good path. I tend to let them pursue (or not) their own interests so I just make resources available to them. It's worth emphasizing to your child the distinction between 'technology exposure' tutorials, and creative work as children tend to care more about making stuff and can find some tutorials a bit tedious. Luckily there are s…

Can you provide links of some of the high quality tutorials you have found?

Arduino Starter Kit is very good. CodeHS is also good but expensive for families as they tend to sell to schools.

YouTube is also a good resource for some things. We haven't found any good programming books yet although they did enjoy the 'Lauren Ipsum' book.

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

#67

Post by sharker8 »

dave_sid wrote: post #59
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.

I agree completely. I don’t understand the recent trend to believe that we need to get kids into software engineering as soon as they pop out of the birth canal. My friend is an accountant. If he asked me for advice on how to make spreadsheets more fun for his kid I’d think he had something against his kid. In the words of Pink Floyd “Hey! Nerds! Leave them kids alone!”

Actually making accounting fun for kids is also a good idea and should be encouraged.

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

#68

Post by sharadov »

dave_sid wrote: post #59
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.

I agree completely. I don’t understand the recent trend to believe that we need to get kids into software engineering as soon as they pop out of the birth canal. My friend is an accountant. If he asked me for advice on how to make spreadsheets more fun for his kid I’d think he had something against his kid. In the words of Pink Floyd “Hey! Nerds! Leave them kids alone!”

Yeah bullshit programming classes https://www.whitehatjr.com/, where they promise that your kid will become the next Gates/Zuck. Have your kids go outside, let them indulge in free play, explore. We're destroying a generation with this nonsense

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

#69

Post by staunch »

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).

The 7 yo's interest here were the games though, not so much the programming, right?

PC games have been the gateway drug for a huge number of programmers.

I think it works in at least a few ways:

1. You discover the amazing power and value of computers, they're not just boring work devices.

2. You learn that other people made the games by writing code, and that anyone can do it if they want to.

3. You end up making your own games and/or get bored of games and want to see what else the computer can do that is also intersting.

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

#70

Post by sharker8 »

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.

The irony of this statement is that only someone with strong memories of his or her parents projecting their interests and him or her and later resenting the effects thereof would project a fear like this on total strangers on the internet.
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