5 ms·

yeah, you are seriously missing the point if your instinct upon seeing this is to buy him a claw machine.

by newobj 15y ago

larrys 15y ago
What is the difference between buying him a claw machine and giving him money for college? Did he earn the money for the college or did the publicity about what he is doing get him the money for college? Taking it one step further what if someone comes along and wants his input on a real arcade and wants to call it "Caines Arcade". Is that also missing the point?
- newobj 15y ago
  it's not about "earning" or "rewarding". your kid says "look dad, i built a clock out of paper". do you respond "that's great, let me buy you a real clock so you don't have to mess with that paper anymore." or do you respond "that's great, let me take you to the machine shop so you can machine some gears and take this thing to the next level/get you a breadboard and some electrical bits so you can work on digital clock/etc etc"
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
joshu 15y ago
i am seriously missing the point how?
- newobj 15y ago
  the kid is a hacker and tinkerer. perhaps the most moving part of the story is the myriad clever ways he approximated all the things he wanted to do. why reward that with giving him the "actual thing"? it may show your generosity as a benefactor but it does nothing to continue to stoke the flames of hacker in him. donate some breadboards and electrical components, parts for a receipt printer, stuff that will allow him to continue to improve his approximations and simultaneously continue to tickle his mind (in learning how these things work).
  - joshu 15y ago
    Or he could take learn how it works by looking inside or keeping it working. Or he uses it to start a business and learns new things there. You seem pretty condescending and narrow-minded.
    - newobj 15y ago
      He doesn't need a joshu "real" claw machine game to start a business because he's already started a business. I'll take your personal assessments of my character under consideration, thank you for the input.
      - joshu 15y ago
        Oh god, are you jealous of the 9 year old? It sure is important to you that he not get anything.
        newobj 15y ago
        Are you a dad joshu? Just curious. The emotions I feel towards this kid are highly protective ones. He was seemingly happy in his own little world of tinkering and barking for customers. Now the adults have to swoop in and make it a spectacle. It will change him for sure. This kind of spirit in a kid is dangerously easy to snuff out. So yes, I'm going to react strongly when people like you are proposing to helicopter in and give him things that may obviate his innate desire to create. I'm all for him getting "assistance", especially a school fund, I'm not pretending there is any virtue in artificially keeping his head dunked in the tank of East LA austerity, but for god's sake don't short circuit his quest for building an arcade just because you have the financial wherewithal to do so.
        joshu 15y ago
        I'm guessing you had a very controlling parent and have the terrible urge to do the same. He's already changed. He's already been donated $120k for a college fund. Someone said he's already been given equipment, too. I'm just reacting to the simple thing that he did specify he wants. The suggestion to give him breadboards or whatever is inane if nobody's around to help him learn. I find your need to overlay your morals (running a small business is not as good as hardware hacking or whatever) incredibly controlling.
tptacek 15y ago
Right way to express an opinion on the parent comment: "That's a nice thought. Have you considered ${XXX_OTHER_GIFT_IDEA} instead? That would better nurture the tinkering impulse this kid has!" HN way to express the same opinion: "You don't get it and probably don't know what it's like to be a dad." One dad to another: you'd do your kids a favor to teach them to default to the first kind of response.

yeah, you are seriously missing the point if your instinct upon seeing this is to buy him a claw machine.

by newobj 15y ago

yeah, you are seriously missing the point if your instinct upon seeing this is to buy him a claw machine.

What is the difference between buying him a claw machine and giving him money for college? Did he earn the money for the college or did the publicity about what he is doing get him the money for college? Taking it one step further what if someone comes along and wants his input on a real arcade and wants to call it "Caines Arcade". Is that also missing the point?

newobj 15y ago
it's not about "earning" or "rewarding". your kid says "look dad, i built a clock out of paper". do you respond "that's great, let me buy you a real clock so you don't have to mess with that paper anymore." or do you respond "that's great, let me take you to the machine shop so you can machine some gears and take this thing to the next level/get you a breadboard and some electrical bits so you can work on digital clock/etc etc"

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

joshu 15y ago

i am seriously missing the point how?

newobj 15y ago
the kid is a hacker and tinkerer. perhaps the most moving part of the story is the myriad clever ways he approximated all the things he wanted to do. why reward that with giving him the "actual thing"? it may show your generosity as a benefactor but it does nothing to continue to stoke the flames of hacker in him. donate some breadboards and electrical components, parts for a receipt printer, stuff that will allow him to continue to improve his approximations and simultaneously continue to tickle his mind (in learning how these things work).
- joshu 15y ago
  Or he could take learn how it works by looking inside or keeping it working. Or he uses it to start a business and learns new things there. You seem pretty condescending and narrow-minded.
  - newobj 15y ago
    He doesn't need a joshu "real" claw machine game to start a business because he's already started a business. I'll take your personal assessments of my character under consideration, thank you for the input.
    - joshu 15y ago
      Oh god, are you jealous of the 9 year old? It sure is important to you that he not get anything.
      - newobj 15y ago
        Are you a dad joshu? Just curious. The emotions I feel towards this kid are highly protective ones. He was seemingly happy in his own little world of tinkering and barking for customers. Now the adults have to swoop in and make it a spectacle. It will change him for sure. This kind of spirit in a kid is dangerously easy to snuff out. So yes, I'm going to react strongly when people like you are proposing to helicopter in and give him things that may obviate his innate desire to create. I'm all for him getting "assistance", especially a school fund, I'm not pretending there is any virtue in artificially keeping his head dunked in the tank of East LA austerity, but for god's sake don't short circuit his quest for building an arcade just because you have the financial wherewithal to do so.
        joshu 15y ago
        I'm guessing you had a very controlling parent and have the terrible urge to do the same. He's already changed. He's already been donated $120k for a college fund. Someone said he's already been given equipment, too. I'm just reacting to the simple thing that he did specify he wants. The suggestion to give him breadboards or whatever is inane if nobody's around to help him learn. I find your need to overlay your morals (running a small business is not as good as hardware hacking or whatever) incredibly controlling.

tptacek 15y ago

Right way to express an opinion on the parent comment: "That's a nice thought. Have you considered ${XXX_OTHER_GIFT_IDEA} instead? That would better nurture the tinkering impulse this kid has!" HN way to express the same opinion: "You don't get it and probably don't know what it's like to be a dad." One dad to another: you'd do your kids a favor to teach them to default to the first kind of response.