We consistently underestimate kids. • Hacker News Board

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#11

Post by dandrews » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:05 PM UTC

26 years ago I wrote a BAT file ("kristen") for the household MS-DOS computer, which would play Christmas carols whenever my two-year-old daughter typed her name on the keyboard and pressed the return key. She learned quickly to switch the system on, wait for the boot sequence to complete, and play music All By Herself.

It was a revelation: kids as young as that don't have eye-hand coordination enough to scribble recognizable letters, so grownups tend to underestimate their cognitive abilities. But give 'em an opportunity to type, and their world expands explosively.

Kristen's own son just turned three last month, and you can't tear him away from his iPad.

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#12

Post by lifeisstillgood » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:16 PM UTC

dandrews wrote: post #11

26 years ago I wrote a BAT file ("kristen") for the household MS-DOS computer, which would play Christmas carols whenever my two-year-old daughter typed her name on the keyboard and pressed the return key. She learned quickly to switch the system on, wait for the boot sequence to complete, and play music All By Herself. It was a revelation: kids as young as that don't have eye-hand coordination enough to scribble rec…

Thank you - I am going to buy a cheap laptop (maybe two to stop fighting) for each child.

Question: What should go on there? Or should I go for the iPad and push the "educational" games

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#13

Post by JoeAltmaier » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:19 PM UTC

dandrews wrote: post #11

26 years ago I wrote a BAT file ("kristen") for the household MS-DOS computer, which would play Christmas carols whenever my two-year-old daughter typed her name on the keyboard and pressed the return key. She learned quickly to switch the system on, wait for the boot sequence to complete, and play music All By Herself. It was a revelation: kids as young as that don't have eye-hand coordination enough to scribble rec…

Same story - 4yr old could type and mouse before he could write. His handwriting is still crap :)

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#14

Post by Peroni » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:29 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #12

dandrews wrote: post #11

26 years ago I wrote a BAT file ("kristen") for the household MS-DOS computer, which would play Christmas carols whenever my two-year-old daughter typed her name on the keyboard and pressed the return key. She learned quickly to switch the system on, wait for the boot sequence to complete, and play music All By Herself. It was a revelation: kids as young as that don't have eye-hand coordination enough to scribble rec…

Thank you - I am going to buy a cheap laptop (maybe two to stop fighting) for each child. Question: What should go on there? Or should I go for the iPad and push the "educational" games

Kids tend to take to tablets brilliantly in my experience. My son turned two a couple of months ago and he can unlock my iPad, swipe across to the next page, select his folder containing his apps (mostly educational, one or two fun apps) choose an app, play with it for a bit, close the app and open a new one. He recently learned how to work the camera which is pretty awesome.

Interesting side effect: He now thinks all smooth surfaces are interactive. We were on the train recently and he was swiping the window in order to close the train doors. Blew my mind at the time.

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#15

Post by ohgodthecat3 » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:32 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #12

dandrews wrote: post #11

26 years ago I wrote a BAT file ("kristen") for the household MS-DOS computer, which would play Christmas carols whenever my two-year-old daughter typed her name on the keyboard and pressed the return key. She learned quickly to switch the system on, wait for the boot sequence to complete, and play music All By Herself. It was a revelation: kids as young as that don't have eye-hand coordination enough to scribble rec…

Thank you - I am going to buy a cheap laptop (maybe two to stop fighting) for each child. Question: What should go on there? Or should I go for the iPad and push the "educational" games

Well I'm sure the ipad has plenty of educational games like the app that teaches algebra without math but you could always look at a netbook and something like http://www.qimo4kids.com/

An ipad may be easier for a child to get started with as everything is just there on the screen.

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#16

Post by squonk » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:34 PM UTC

anu_gupta wrote: post #7

colomon wrote: post #2

While I fully agree that we underestimate kids, I've got to say that my three-year-old spent a gleeful half hour riding up and down escalators back in March, and was sad when we said he had to stop. Little kids can be surprisingly smart and still be amused by simple, repetitive things that would bore adults out of their skulls.

I still get a small thrill from stepping onto a particularly long escalator (eg the one at Angel tube station in London, which is the 3rd biggest in Western Europe), but then again, my partner often says I'm essentially a five year old trapped in an adult's body.

There is an awesome one at Tokyo Station (Chuo line?) Up about two stories, then horizontal for 10 meters, then up another two stories. Ya, I could spend hours on that one....

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#17

Post by lifeisstillgood » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:37 PM UTC

Peroni wrote: post #14

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you - I am going to buy a cheap laptop (maybe two to stop fighting) for each child. Question: What should go on there? Or should I go for the iPad and push the "educational" games

Kids tend to take to tablets brilliantly in my experience. My son turned two a couple of months ago and he can unlock my iPad, swipe across to the next page, select his folder containing his apps (mostly educational, one or two fun apps) choose an app, play with it for a bit, close the app and open a new one. He recently learned how to work the camera which is pretty awesome. Interesting side effect: He now thinks al…

My son (and daughter) now walk up to the TV if I have paused the movie and press the big (||) button on screen. That blew me away too - its much better interface.

(Actually they both used to, now they grab the remote. Ollie can work it fine now.)

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#18

Post by yesbabyyes » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:47 PM UTC

squonk wrote: post #5

I've become interested in evolutionary psychology. Not at all expert, but when one considers the survivability of children in ancient (pre-historic) environments, seems logical that children increased the likelihood of survival by mimicking the adults they see; figuring out how to do the basics like feeding themselves, finding a safe place to sleep, taking cover during inclement weather, and generally assimilating ad…

When she saw me, she said, "daddy, let's go do some business!"

Did you?

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#19

Post by xyzzyb » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:47 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #12

dandrews wrote: post #11

26 years ago I wrote a BAT file ("kristen") for the household MS-DOS computer, which would play Christmas carols whenever my two-year-old daughter typed her name on the keyboard and pressed the return key. She learned quickly to switch the system on, wait for the boot sequence to complete, and play music All By Herself. It was a revelation: kids as young as that don't have eye-hand coordination enough to scribble rec…

Thank you - I am going to buy a cheap laptop (maybe two to stop fighting) for each child. Question: What should go on there? Or should I go for the iPad and push the "educational" games

Unix!

http://changelog.complete.org/archives/7562-i-introduced-my-...

Re: We consistently underestimate kids.

#20

Post by simonh » Mon, Aug 20, 2012, 3:54 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #12

dandrews wrote: post #11

26 years ago I wrote a BAT file ("kristen") for the household MS-DOS computer, which would play Christmas carols whenever my two-year-old daughter typed her name on the keyboard and pressed the return key. She learned quickly to switch the system on, wait for the boot sequence to complete, and play music All By Herself. It was a revelation: kids as young as that don't have eye-hand coordination enough to scribble rec…

Thank you - I am going to buy a cheap laptop (maybe two to stop fighting) for each child. Question: What should go on there? Or should I go for the iPad and push the "educational" games

There are a huge number of educational and recreational apps for the iPad for kids, apart from just games. My plan for years was to get a netbook each for my kids and put something like Edubuntu on it, but now I just don't see the point. I have a netbook, but the battery only lasts a few hours, it's woefully underpowered compared to an iPad, takes several minutes to boot/wake as against instant start, is fiddly to use, with a poor screen. It's just a non-starter. If you're not used to the iPad ok, but if you are they're worlds apart.

I'm hoping for a relatively cheap mini-iPad to come out this autumn and I'll get one for each of my two girls, aged 7 and 8. That, or get their rich uncle and grandparents to sort them out. Then I can get my iPad back out of their little fingers. It'll be just me and the wife fighting over it, though actually there are quite a few puzzle games we play together.