
How do I get my son or daughter interested in computer programming? - gbarc888
https://elaineou.com/2017/09/26/how-do-i-get-my-daughter-interested-in-computers/
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jasode
In her blog, the author (Elaine Ou) is conflating different meanings of the
word _" interested"_.

When people ask, _" how do I get my daughter _interested_ in computers?"_,
they often mean:

 _- "interested" == "find joy/play/fun"_

But Elaine's essay is answering it by interpreting "interested" this way:

 _- "interested" == "understand and value the practical business work skills"_

Using substitution, Elaine interprets the question as: _" how do I get my
daughter to understand and value the practical business work skills in
computers?"_

It doesn't mean Elaine's perspective is not valid. However, we have to be
aware that she's not addressing what many people mean by being _"
interested"_.

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Mikeb85
Lol, I had an answer all written out, then read the last few lines of the
article. Nice bait and switch, I actually enjoyed it. I agree, to make money,
learn about money. Otherwise you'll always just be someone else's
worker/slave... I also enjoy the answers here by people who obviously just
read the headline or first few paragraphs, as I did when I formulated my first
comment. Well played.

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gbarc888
Curious what your answer would have been, though. Most of the answers seem to
be "find a toy version of it".

~~~
Mikeb85
Let kids do what they want, it's not necessary to become a computer programmer
to have a happy life or to make money.

If they ever find the interest on their own, they'll ask.

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cityzen
How old are they? My boys are 5 and 9 and they aren't really interested in
"programming" but they love the red stone things you can do in Minecraft. Red
stone is basically electricity so they have learned to solve real problems and
challenges (to them) like creating doors that open with pressure plates, etc.
From there we got an AWS IoT button which will spin up a Minecraft server at
the touch of a button.

All of this to say it may help to go into their world instead of them coming
into yours. Find interesting problems or challenges they are having and show
them you can help. Sometimes my being able to do something with programming
will get the, "Whoa, how did you do that?!" Response. I don't expect my kids
to actually write code right now but they do know that programming is voodoo
magic and they are very interested in it.

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scalablenotions
I was interested in programming at a very young age, because of video games. I
wanted to learn to make them. I was interested in video games first. What do
they like to do on the computer? Can you find an opportunity for them to make
their own version of whatever app they like to use?

I think I was quite naturally inclined to it, though, just like many other
girls and boys. If you give your child opportunities to get involved, and
they're not interested, it might be a sign that this is not their calling.
Perhaps give them opportunities to get involved in something else, and see
what naturally grabs them. This is more likely to help them maximize their
talents.

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louithethrid
Make it a part of the famil prank tradition, to boobytrap Alexa and the likes
with cusotm code. In oder to get "back" on you- they need to learn this.

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Tomte
Forbid it.

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gbarc888
that's pretty much the best way to get kids to do anything.

"Whatever you do, son, don't read this Calculus textbook. And you are not
allowed to eat these vegetables."

~~~
colejohnson66
When I was younger, if my parents told me not to eat vegetables, I’d be happy.
I was already refusing to eat them.

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tslug
What I don't recommend is going through programming exercises on the web,
which seems to be a popular path that usually ends in stall-out.

Whether young or old, I think it's important that the person start by asking
themselves what they would like a computer to do for them. From there, you can
start to bite off small pieces of the challenge, slowly making progress
towards something they actually care about.

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kpil
A good question, but unfortunately no answers.

The statement - "Nobody becomes a software engineer because they love writing
code" \- is definitely wrong and it's a bit sad that the author isn't enjoying
the magical act of crafting complex machinery out of nothing.

A lot of people enjoy exactly that, and don't really care for the end-product,
although I have to say that really good programmers enjoy coding as much as
they are interested in the goal.

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naasking
Computer science can be applied to nearly every subject in which they're
already interested. That's your gateway.

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timmysaw
Scratch.mit.edu by MIT is a great introductory vehicle. They can play and
share games that they or their friends have created. And then take games they
like and change how they work.

Fantastic!

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type0
Start some microcontroller project with your kind that makes something cool
using micropython or with C.H.I.P. make some Lua games.

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crazy5sheep
Maybe try some of those programmable toys, like LEGO NXT or simpler ones like
Sphero?

