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I am glad you have vocalised this sentiment. I have been feeling vaguely uneasy about this whole thread, and honestly i had put it down to plain jealousy (“if

I am glad you have vocalised this sentiment. I have been feeling vaguely uneasy about this whole thread, and honestly i had put it down to plain jealousy (“if only my childhood environment hadn't consisted of accountant parents but programmers”). I think it's more than that though, this morning i already had an offline chat with someone about it, and came to the conclusion that it was perhaps setting up unreasonable expectations for those kids who don't have rockstar and/or programmer parents. You've hit the nail on the head, in my humble opinion. Let the kid decide. Maybe he wants to become an astronaut instead, or a penniless country musician. We'll see, all in good time.

amag 11y ago
I discovered programming as a ten year old because I grew tired of the games I had for my C64. After all C64 BASIC was there all along, behind the scenes, just waiting for me. Today when kids grow tired of the games they have, they open the App Store and download another one. There's no programming language "behind the scenes" waiting for to be discovered by a bored ten year old. I totally agree that kids should decide and that as parents we should never force them to fulfill our dreams. But at the same time as adults we still need to show them what options there are, guide them through obstacles and push them a little when it's boring or scary in order to make them grow. Far too often today I see parents (myself no exception though I try no to) treat their children as small adults, as if they already possess all the knowledge and skill to make informed decisions about what's best for them. When I take the time to really listen to my kids it always strikes me how much their view of the world differs from mine. It's easy to think that a certain event we experience together has the same impact on us, but a lot of the things I consider trivial has a lasting effect on my kids. I guess what I want to say is that it's easy to say "if the kid wants to program, she will program" but it doesn't always work that way if she doesn't know that you can program.

amag 11y ago

I discovered programming as a ten year old because I grew tired of the games I had for my C64. After all C64 BASIC was there all along, behind the scenes, just waiting for me. Today when kids grow tired of the games they have, they open the App Store and download another one. There's no programming language "behind the scenes" waiting for to be discovered by a bored ten year old. I totally agree that kids should decide and that as parents we should never force them to fulfill our dreams. But at the same time as adults we still need to show them what options there are, guide them through obstacles and push them a little when it's boring or scary in order to make them grow. Far too often today I see parents (myself no exception though I try no to) treat their children as small adults, as if they already possess all the knowledge and skill to make informed decisions about what's best for them. When I take the time to really listen to my kids it always strikes me how much their view of the world differs from mine. It's easy to think that a certain event we experience together has the same impact on us, but a lot of the things I consider trivial has a lasting effect on my kids. I guess what I want to say is that it's easy to say "if the kid wants to program, she will program" but it doesn't always work that way if she doesn't know that you can program.