just let him enjoy the time spend with you, give him problems, not solutions. Give him options, be open to listen and show interest in his activities, you will be surprised of how much you will also learn from him.
Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
71–80 of 157 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#72Answer every question.
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#73If you'd like to give him a head start, give him room to decide what he'd like to do. Don't limit his abilities, or options. Perhaps he will not be interested in IT? He could be the man to cure Cancer.
You're absolutely spot on but speak to any scientist or doctor and they will undoubtedly tell you that they would probably benefit from being ahead of the curve from a technological perspective. All of todays innovators embrace technology and all of todays technology require a distinct understanding of computing and/or electronic engineering.
Try to have the confidence that your kid will get to computing technology if they need it.
Your job is to enable them to identify their interests and follow their curiosity. Not so much to direct it.
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#74buy Lego. Lots of it.
Legomindstorms - once they kids get older.
Don't you find lego is very kit-based (you buy a box and get to build a specific "thing" - wouldn't it be better to buy some building toy which allows one to build whatever they want).
How about meccano? (again not the kit based).
What other construction toys?
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#75I would just forget about computers and programming completely and focus on the building blocks by a playful approach to solving day-to-day problems with logic and reasoning. Like how do we decide which things belong together? You can also play progressively more complicated iteration games like for-each-time-this-happens-let's-do-this-this-and-this! Or make complicated rube goldberg devices out of household objects…
Totally agree. I did some of my earliest engineering work at 10 yrs old with Legos. Now I use code, but it's still very much about how things go together.
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#76Talk to your child. Share experiences with him and talk about what you've experienced. You'll both learn a lot.
When my daughter was in the early years of elementary school I was just getting started with web development. I was working at home and she showed an interest in what I was doing. I tried to teach the basics of html so she could create web pages. She definitely had the intelligence to succeed at it but it didn't appeal to her. I didn't push it. We found something else to share: reading books and visiting bookstores. She's developed a broad intelligence that is helping her have a fulfilling life without a line of code in sight.
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#77Love him. Unconditionally. And make sure he always knows it. Everything else is just details. With this, things will inevitably fall nicely into place, no matter what tactics you take. Without it, he will be fucked up no matter what you do and will be coming to hacker news in 2028 posting, "Ask HN: I'm confused and depressed and don't know why."
I grew up confused and depressed, meanwhile, my parents did their best to show me every day they loved me and still do, but I feel entirely distant from them. I'm over 20 years old.
GG logic, gg.
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#781. Restrict TV consumption - help him become selective and not a slave to that time waster. 2. Play music - it probably does not matter what type. 3. Think very hard about schooling.
Huge supporter of #1 - Around the start of high school my Dad cut the service provider. I thought it sucked for a while, but in the end I realized I was much more productive, and was generally more interested in activities / school.
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#79> He's 6 months old currently so I have plenty of time! You do indeed. Don't forget that. You have at least 8 years left before your kid should start doing this kind of thing. Just let him use a computer in a completely natural way, don't force anything on him. Programming is decidedly different from, say, playing the violin! Also, less importantly, skip the shitty languages phase. It's not necessary to go through Pa…
> don't force anything on him. This is absolutely true. One of the risks that you take when you have a child is that he'll turn out totally different than you. My father was a farmer, and so we're from basically two different worlds. He could never understand why I wanted to be on the computer on the time, I couldn't understand why he wanted to be outside all the time. But since neither of us tried to force each othe…
> > don't force anything on him. ... Just let him use a computer in a completely natural way.
> This is absolutely true.
I disagree, sort of. I have a 5 yo and an 8 yo. If you let kids use a computer without guidance, they will learn how to use a computer from their friends at school. And what they learn is to fire up a browser (chrome if you've got it, otherwise Firefox) type " games" into Google and play thousands of really mind-numbing flash games. Go ahead. Try it.
Re: Ask HN: How do I give my son a head start?
#80Love him. Unconditionally. And make sure he always knows it. Everything else is just details. With this, things will inevitably fall nicely into place, no matter what tactics you take. Without it, he will be fucked up no matter what you do and will be coming to hacker news in 2028 posting, "Ask HN: I'm confused and depressed and don't know why."
I slightly disagree. Obviously love him, but don't smother and coddle him. Spend as much time as possible interacting with him as well as teaching independence and to think on his own. Interaction is the key.