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I agree 100%, based on my own experience both as having been a kid and being a parent. Like a lot of other folks have already posted, I was also the weird sort of kid that spent time "playing on the computer" and talking about what I'd learned and asking about "modems" and "BBSs" or "the Internet". My parents would listen, supported getting an extra phone line to run my own BBS, would drive me places to support my hardware and books habits--and that all was important to continuing to explore this niche. As a parent, well, I have an interesting mirror experience. My oldest daughter got really into basketball. This is absolutely inexplicable to me, because neither I nor my wife ever played, nor did we ever watch a basketball game at home before her interest developed. (Schools these days, exposing children to strange new ideas!) I knew the basics (orange sphere through orange ring = points; double dribbling and traveling are bad; no tackling) but really had no interest. But we've enabled her interest: let her join the school team, signed her up for summer camps or 3-on-3 leagues, encouraged her to practice in the driveway (oh, yeah, bought a hoop for the driveway), have watched or taken her to college women's games. She still knows more about the game than I do. Even with years of watching, "volunteering" for scorebook duty at some of her home games, talking with coaches and refs, there are still a lot of subtleties of the game that escape me. But it's okay. She plays, she enjoys it, and she knows her parents support her strange, strange interest. Even if you don't really, completely "get it" as a parent, supporting and enabling ("enabler" is such a good word here) is worth a lot. |