
Ask HN: Parents of HN – have you ever had to outwit your tech-savvy kid? - lordleft
As a generation of programmers and IT professionals begin and progress through family life, I am sure that a generation of technically-proficient children are being raised, and potentially giving their parents a run for their money. I&#x27;m curious if this has led to any games of chess between parent and child, kids trying to outwit their sysadmin or coder parents
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davismwfl
I have kids, one that is grown and finishing college and another in high
school right now. My son who is grown went towards computers early and did his
high school in one of the better public school robotics programs. I
underestimated his sophistication & level of knowledge in his sophomore year
of HS, primarily in his ability to get around the internet controls and
filters I had setup. Honestly they were not primarily there for him anyhow,
more so for his younger sister, but there was one that was aimed squarely at
him which was a time limiter. I forced off time for all internet/electronic
activities for him because if I didn't the kid would've been a vampire in his
bedroom and turned pasty, which living in a sunny sub-tropical state wouldn't
work out well for him.

Nothing I had setup initially was that difficult to defeat, but I realized
pretty quick I had to step up my security as he was learning quite a bit as he
was going through school, more than I expected him to at least. I never told
him not to try or punished him for trying, in fact my wife was upset with me
for a short time because I encouraged him to try. My thought was if he was
trying to best me he'd learn something, and if he got past me I'd learn
something. So to me, win-win.

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JohnFen
I guess that I'm lucky -- I'm far more tech-savvy than my children.

