7 ms·

Wow a lot of jealous comments in this thread. I'm feeling it too. Why didn't my dad work at JPL and teach me physics and electrical engineering on his knee!?!

• ChuckMcM 15y ago
  Ok, I laughed out loud here. Allow me to relate a bit of personal history. I'm kind of a nerd, shocking I know, but its true. And have a fairly large number of toys around the house and have lived the 'hacking' lifestyle for my whole life. When my daughter was 9 [1] she was part of a team I put together to compete on the short lived 'Robotica' series. When she was 10 and wanted a computer for her room I gave her a VAX running NetBSD. (and VMS although NetBSD was much more approachable). She went to Reed College as an art major! (although when she graduates her degree will be in physics, go figure). The point though (besides being able to brag about my kids, another sin I'm guilty of) is that if your parents did work at JPL and do rocket science there is no guarantees that you would be interested in rockets. As a parent all we can do is try to expose the kids to as many things as possible in an effort to allow them to discover their passions earlier rather than later. It is tremendously challenging as a parent to help your kids discover these things, but it is so valuable to them later on. [1] http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/robotics/killerB.html http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/robotics/killerB.html