[mcook08]

I’m a Dad who grew up in the 80s and the problem is us, the parents. My parents didn’t push me to get into computing, I just found it fascinating. If we try to find things like gentle introductions, it’s likely to get more kids to a base level familiarity but all of the real learning was in reading a 256 page manual as an 8 year old so I could get StarCraft to work on my highly custom rig. Parents as the driving force simply won’t work. Ask your kids what they are interested in and let them struggle with the problem for hours (days even) and they’ll be better for it than anything you could possibly install or provide to them.

Could your parents navigate DOS? Mine sure couldn’t but it didn’t stop me from learning.

[hermitcrab]

From my experience, the best approach is to get your children to try lots of different things and let them find their own interests. I tried lots of things with my son:

https://successfulsoftware.net/2014/01/31/fun-and-geeky-thin...

Some he really enjoyed. Other he lost interest in very quickly.

It can be frustrating when they quickly lose interest in some toy you have spent your hard earned cash on. But that is the way it goes. One of the things we tried was model rocketry (starting with a small Estes kit) and that was a big success. He has now won competitions, is level 1 certified and wants to study aerospace engineering at University.

I guess it is a bit like running a film studio - most of the films lose money, but the occasional blockbuster more than makes up for it.

[lolinder]

This is a great answer. I think you already hint at this but I wanted to elaborate on it a bit: the big thing that our kids fall in love with will not necessarily be computing (at least not in the sense that we mean), and that's okay.

We grew up at various stages of a massive revolution—some are reminiscing for the 80s, I'm at the tail end reminiscing for the early web and then the Flash era. Computers were wonderful to me because I could, as a kid, produce results that looked and felt like they were in the same ballpark as what I saw professionals doing. It was the frontier, and I felt like I was helping to explore it.

In the last two decades computing has grown up, and having grown up it's no longer possible for children to participate in the frontier. From a young age they interact primarily with toys and tools that would be impossible for any one of us to make alone, much less for a child who's still learning. Sandboxes like Scratch are great, but an adventurous kid who wants to be at the frontier will very quickly recognize it as just that: a sandbox. It's not as compelling because it's artificial, created specifically for their education.

Instead, I expect that my children will find something else, a new frontier to push. My kids don't want toys curated by their parents, they want to explore the world and they want to contribute. They are going to find the fields that are still fresh, that still have mystery, that don't require years of education to get to the point where they can contribute meaningfully. And that's awesome! I'm excited to see what they find, and excited for them to show me along.

[kyriakos]

I am also a dad that grew up in the 80's and my thoughts on this issue is that back in those days there was a much smaller selection of things you could do with a computer, less stimuli and smaller need for instant gratification. At some point computers turned from being a tool you could create to a tool you use to consume other people's creations. From my experience, children today don't have enough patience to learn how to hack things around before they get bored and move on to the next thing. There amount of distractions is insane (web, social media, youtube, easily accessible video games etc). Its more likely a kid will avoid the problem than try to solve it at this point. I feel we lost something important along the way.

[rapind]

This has been my experience too. Not for a lack of trying either! Looking back now, it seems obvious.

I like to leave interesting things lying around where we hangout the most though. Giving them at least an opportunity to get interested (and almost inevitably lose interest!).

[eezing]

Computers weren’t on my radar until my grandmother surprised me with one. I came home from school and there lay 2 huge boxes. I was on my own from there.

I was given the opportunity.

[brokenmachine]

Kickass Grandma!!

[f1shy]

>>Parents as the driving force simply won’t work.

I keep seeing that myth. Most of the people I know studies the same as their parents, inspired by them. Specially what catches in kids are hobbies. I have lots of friend which are professional or semi professional musicians. All of them got the playing of the instrument from the parents.

[lolinder]

My wife's siblings are all musicians because that's the direction their mom drove, but nearly all of them now wish that they'd been allowed to pursue what they were truly interested in. If given a choice, only one of six would have chosen music as the primary thing in their life.

Seeing that, my feeling isn't so much that parents as the driving force doesn't work, it's that it's cruel. Our kids are not blank slates for us to write on, they have many predispositions and interests that we have only the smallest influence over. It is far more effective and more ethical for us to help them develop those interests in ways that will benefit them over the long haul than to try to teach them the things that interest us.

[f1shy]

There is a difference between showing to start interest and shoving down the throat. I know both kinds.

[hermitcrab]

> Our kids are not blank slates for us to write on

So true. Hopefully we can give them (what we consider) good basic values. But we can't (and should try to) mold every aspect of their intests and personalities. And anyone who thinks that they can is in for a rude shock.