[cedws]

No offense, but you sound like one of those pushy parents. If she enjoys it then she'll figure it out on her own. Why does it need to be forced? I too was writing code at that age and managed on my own, all I needed was an Internet connection, a warm home, and food on the table.

Like other comments say, forcing it is a surefire way to kill any interest. And giving your daughter autonomy over her own learning is a very valuable lifeskill.

[web99]

No offense taken! I only push the kids to get proper nutrition and sleep :) rest is their choice. She was applying for summer internships. I explained to her that open source might be a better way to get experience, and we looked into mentorship, which is how this thread started...

[bruce511]

>> I explained to her that open source might be a better way to get experience, and we looked into mentorship, which is how this thread started...

so I presume you ended up agreeing with her that an internship is a better place for getting the mentorship she's looking for?

I say that not to be a dick, or to cause gratuitous offense, but that sometimes, even as adults, we are wrong, and should admit it.

While mentorship programs can exist, and there's nothing stopping them using a open source project as a target, in concept open source and mentoring are not really related.

Both overlap as an "altruistic social good", but the kinds of people who delight in teaching and mentoring and the kinds who delight in writing code (as a way of avoiding social interaction?) would not seem to be a natural overlap.

The vast majority of open-source programmers are doing it for fun (not money) so in their spare time. They probably want to spend that time programming not mentoring. The few doing it as a paid gig, well, they have work to do.

This might just be one of those things that seems like a good fit, but really isn't.

[c7DJTLrn]

I see, thanks for the explanation. Good luck.

[bheadmaster]

Difference between "pushy" and "inspiring" is the way the action is perceived. I don't think we can evaluate that from the post alone.

A lot of parents "push" their kids into something, and have them accept it enthusiastically.