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I'm married with a 11 month old son, but definitely identify with this perspective on it. I'd never sideline my family to squeeze in an extra bit of work for th

by thearn4 10y ago

I'm married with a 11 month old son, but definitely identify with this perspective on it. I'd never sideline my family to squeeze in an extra bit of work for the sake of work, but still strongly identify with the passion for technology that got me to where I'm at today. I hope I can raise my son to appreciate an appropriate balance.

smoyer 10y ago
I've had a lot of fun working on technology projects with my kids. I'd say these projects are too numerous to mention but as an example, my daughter and I wrote a program (well ... I wrote it and she specified and QA'd it) that finds CRISPR sites in a mouse genome for her lab project at Johns Hopkins (she's a doctoral candidate in molecular genetics). So share your passion for technology with your child(ren) ... it's really never too early to let them touch it if you're careful. My daughter once deleted C:\Windows because she never "played that game" and wanted to install another game before I got home (her mom told her to wait). That OS never booted again ... we switched from Win98 to WinXP that night so that I could have a bit more control. In general, I think it's good to let your children fail at things they want to try themselves - my job as a parent is to keep them from failing at things that are fatal, or have long-term consequences. And you'll find that they're fearless around your computer. They'll just click until it works if they have to. It's a funny contrast to teaching computers to senior citizens, who are afraid any wrong keystroke or errant mouse-click will permanently break something. Of course, if they're not interested, you can't effectively force your love of technology on them. But I'll bet you can find something that they ARE passionate about that you find interesting too. And isn't that a better way to spend time together than sitting in front of a TV?
- qb45 10y ago
  > we switched from Win98 to WinXP that night so that I could have a bit more control. That sucks, poor kid. I knew my Windows 98 activation key by heart in my early teens :)
  - smoyer 10y ago
    She was five at the time ... she obviously didn't know what she was deleting. And there have been plenty of times I've "paid extra" (in money and/or time) to allow my kids to keep a fearless curiosity.
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  "My daughter once deleted C:\Windows because she never "played that game" and wanted to install another game before I got home (her mom told her to wait). That OS never booted again ... " That's hilarious. I'd have never considered that risk. "It's a funny contrast to teaching computers to senior citizens, who are afraid any wrong keystroke or errant mouse-click will permanently break something." The contrast is interesting. Both cases lead to a piece of advice I've been giving for a decade or something: backup anything extra critical onto write-once media like CD-R's or DVD-R's. Make sure it's certainly recoverable. Then, you're worried about a temporary loss of PC access instead of permanent loss of important data.

by thearn4 10y ago

smoyer 10y ago

I've had a lot of fun working on technology projects with my kids. I'd say these projects are too numerous to mention but as an example, my daughter and I wrote a program (well ... I wrote it and she specified and QA'd it) that finds CRISPR sites in a mouse genome for her lab project at Johns Hopkins (she's a doctoral candidate in molecular genetics). So share your passion for technology with your child(ren) ... it's really never too early to let them touch it if you're careful. My daughter once deleted C:\Windows because she never "played that game" and wanted to install another game before I got home (her mom told her to wait). That OS never booted again ... we switched from Win98 to WinXP that night so that I could have a bit more control. In general, I think it's good to let your children fail at things they want to try themselves - my job as a parent is to keep them from failing at things that are fatal, or have long-term consequences. And you'll find that they're fearless around your computer. They'll just click until it works if they have to. It's a funny contrast to teaching computers to senior citizens, who are afraid any wrong keystroke or errant mouse-click will permanently break something. Of course, if they're not interested, you can't effectively force your love of technology on them. But I'll bet you can find something that they ARE passionate about that you find interesting too. And isn't that a better way to spend time together than sitting in front of a TV?

qb45 10y ago
> we switched from Win98 to WinXP that night so that I could have a bit more control. That sucks, poor kid. I knew my Windows 98 activation key by heart in my early teens :)
- smoyer 10y ago
  She was five at the time ... she obviously didn't know what she was deleting. And there have been plenty of times I've "paid extra" (in money and/or time) to allow my kids to keep a fearless curiosity.
nickpsecurity 10y ago
"My daughter once deleted C:\Windows because she never "played that game" and wanted to install another game before I got home (her mom told her to wait). That OS never booted again ... " That's hilarious. I'd have never considered that risk. "It's a funny contrast to teaching computers to senior citizens, who are afraid any wrong keystroke or errant mouse-click will permanently break something." The contrast is interesting. Both cases lead to a piece of advice I've been giving for a decade or something: backup anything extra critical onto write-once media like CD-R's or DVD-R's. Make sure it's certainly recoverable. Then, you're worried about a temporary loss of PC access instead of permanent loss of important data.