We have several apps we use with our 9-month daughter. It's her favorite toy by far--the minute she sees it, she's off like a rocket tugging at the feet of whoever is using it. It has flashcard apps, a cartoon dinosaur that talks to her, books that read themselves to her while highlighting the words, cool fractal displays that respond to her touching the screen, etc. It's well-built and has withstood many baby-related mishaps.
If you can get him to love computers, everything else you're worried about should fall into place.
Read to him when he is young, with him when older. It is the most stupidly effective academic intervention I'm aware of.
It's funny, because that one of the "obvious" things to try that instead shows no correlation with academic performance. At least that's what it's said in "Freakonomics".
Anyway, I'm doing it with my two years and half son. He loves it and helps him to relax and rest(he's very active).
Love 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'm sorry, I really dislike this answer.
Obviously this guy knows that he should love his kid. He was looking for specific answers on how to introduce the kid to computing. And you gave him this glib, content-less, greeting card answer.
Love 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'm sorry, I really dislike this answer. Obviously this guy knows that he should love his kid. He was looking for specific answers on how to introduce the kid to computing. And you gave him this glib, content-less, greeting card answer. I cannot believe this is the top comment.
It's not the highest scoring one, by far. How is the algorithm determined?
Play the board game Go. It's simple, tactile and astoundingly complex. I've found wrapping my head around that game is a similar experience to wrapping my head around programming concepts.
Your son will come to you to play board games, whereas teaching programming is something where you'd be driving what your son learns.
Building a Go game on the computer is also not that difficult-- but developing AI for it leads deep into math and computer science.
Love 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."
Meta: interesting that you think HN will exist in a recognizable form by 2028. 18 years ago, the web looked very different. I wonder what will we call "web" in 2028.
How do you mean? People still used browsers to make requests over http, didn't they?
Actually, I guess there was a lot of text-based interaction going on, come to think of it. Telnet, etc. Hm.
Yes. Dr. Marilyn Daniels at Penn State University has found that hearing students in pre-kindergarten classes who receive instruction in both English and ASL score significantly higher on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test than hearing students in classes with no sign instruction. Her studies demonstrate that adding visual and kinesthetic elements to verbal communication helps enhance a preschool child's vocabulary,…
Dr. Marilyn Daniels at Penn State University has found that hearing students in pre-kindergarten classes who receive instruction in both English and ASL score significantly higher on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test than hearing students in classes with no sign instruction. Thanks for providing these articles. I don't doubt that children can learn to sign before they can learn to speak (not a big leap considering…
Anecdotal, I know, but the smartest guy I know (13 courses one semester at Waterloo, qualified to major in CS, actuary science, accountancy, pure math with minors in psychology and business. Currently working on his law degree, actuary tests, and CFA (certified financial advisor) while working full time as a chartered accountant) was taught baby sign as an infant. His younger brother was not. His younger brother is so much more creative and broad thinking whereas the eldest is a Spock like linear thinker. Trade offs.
Meta: interesting that you think HN will exist in a recognizable form by 2028. 18 years ago, the web looked very different. I wonder what will we call "web" in 2028.
How do you mean? People still used browsers to make requests over http, didn't they? Actually, I guess there was a lot of text-based interaction going on, come to think of it. Telnet, etc. Hm.
I still telnet. So much fun!
Wish gopher's were still around. I was thinking of using a gopher to do a blog with.