

How can a barely-count-to-ten-in-python dad help kids with code? - niels_olson

I'm learning to code, slowly (see other posts: http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=niels_olson).<p>It seems likely my kids (now 3 and 6) will be ready to learn before I can teach. What to do?
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lbrandy
Learn faster!

Ok, more seriously, how about this: relax.

Most of us computer nerds learned to program on our own, in middle and high
schools, with only our computer and a cheap book (or maybe the internet,
today), not from out parents.

I'd say take interest, give them the tools, and let them explore. Just don't
turn it into the equivalent of "piano lessons" or else they'll end up hating
it :P

~~~
rit
This may be worth considering, as far as not forcing it upon them.

I learned to code as a kid not from my parents teaching me, but from my dad
buying a Vic20 and then a Commodore 64 (I ended up learning on the 64, but a
few years later when the 64 was still the 'family' computer I got to use the
vic20 in my room as a personal machine. It mostly played Paratrooper and
Seawolf though) and very non-chalantly encouraging me to use it. I fuzzily
recall that as I started to explore the Commodore BASIC, he would buy himself
programming books and magazines that he just never seemed to have time to use.
I suspect this may have been his clever way of giving me a leg up without
pushing. In later years, when we upgraded to an IBM machine he got me some
programming books and tools from a friend (REXX, which was interesting and
close enough to BASIC to make it an easy transition) to give me more to play
with.

Thinking on it, I suspect that the 'piano lessons' analogy might be right.
Find a way to encourage your kids to catch the bug as far as hacking and
poking at the system, and then find subtle ways to encourage them.

It almost makes me think there'd be some real value in a kids game that did
this. Kind of a situation where the kid who is clever enough can figure out
how to 'break' the game and poke at how it works, and push it along. I say
this mostly because when I learned, I started playing with BASIC because the
software was loaded through it. I recall one day wondering what the hell "LOAD
"*", 8,1" meant and why it made the game run. And it went on from there...

My father never had any programming knowledge, in fact he was a Nurse. But his
non-interfering encouragement pushed me along onto a nice little path that
seems to have worked out pretty well so far.

~~~
rit
Oh, and stuff like Lego Mindstorms might also be just the thing to make it
happen.

One of the coolest experiences I had as a kid was when I was about 8 or 9 (it
was 1987, because I recall everyone was also playing Faerie Tale Adventure:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faery_Tale_Adventure>) and someone
introduced me to Lego LOGO. I remember just building a basic traffic light,
and how incredibly EASY it was to do things.

Things like that might fit into my whole idea of 'find toys that they can play
with, but that encourage them to hack.'

------
manvsmachine
If you don't already know how to program, there's no reason that you can't
learn along with them. Make it a joint experience; you can help each other out
when you get stuck. They will look up to you when you help them with that
thing that they just can't figure out, and they get to feel good about
themselves when they teach _you_ something. Win-win situation.

------
neilc
I don't think the primary role of a parent should be to literally teach your
children to program, like a tutor. Instead, just expose them to some of the
fascinating parts of computing, math, and science in general. If they're
interested and you provide the right environment, they will likely be keen to
start learning on their own fairly soon.

------
gaius
Buy a Turtle and lots of paper :-)

~~~
niels_olson
a turtle?

