I was just scrolling through my newsfeed in the browser, one advertisement drew my attention. "Free coding class for kids age 6 to 14!!"
Then I started thinking should my kids join a coding class? What is the right age? Let me introduce you myself first. I have played a role of a developer, team lead, and architect in my professional life. I have started coding during my diploma college in 1998, not stopped till now. In short, I have been programming for more than two decades now!
Why do people think learning coding is a quick way to become rich?
You might have heard where Bill Gates dropped out of Havard and started his company in a car garage. Started coding for windows OS and became a billionaire in no time. Mark Zuckerberg, he built Facebook by coding and developing it from a dormitory room. Now he is also a billionaire. Such fancy stories make us think that if our kids can start coding now they can be millionaires at least right?
Will coding make people rich?
If coding would have made millionaires then there would be lakhs of people in India itself who are millionaires or billionaires roaming in private charted airplanes! Truth it is not coding skills of Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg made them billionaires. It is their Enterpreunship skill and hard work that made them succeed!
If you are imagining you will give a laptop to your kid and they will start coding in a closed room. They will start earning boatloads of money from that coding is an unrealistic expectation.
Why your kid should not learn coding at an early stage?
1. Coding skills can be learned later
Coding skills can be learned later point in time. It is not rocket science. Just learning to code will not help your kid to achieve anything great. During college days, graduation days he will get enough time to do that.
2. Other basic skills are important
There are other skills your kid should learn in their life. Those things cannot be taught later from scratch. What are the basic skills your kids must learn?
- Languages - Reading, writing, and speaking languages like Kannada, Hindi, and English. Some may want to learn our heritage language Sanskrit also. Then there are mother tongue languages like variations of Kannada, Tulu, Kodava, or Kokani, etc.
- Culture
- General Knowledge
- Logical Reasoning, Creative thinking
- Subjects - Maths, Science, Biology
- Social Interaction - Chating/Playing with Parents and siblings, Playing with friends, interaction with relatives
- Hobbies - Photography
- Sports - Cricket, Skating, Tennis so on
- Art - Drawing, Painting, Acting, Dancing
- Music - Singing, Guitar, Piano, Veena, Tabla and other instruments playing
- Gym, Yoga, Swimming, Cycling
- Chess, Snake and Ladder, Uno, Monoploy
- Cleaning, Washing, Cooking
- Reading Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavadgeeta like books
- Reading kids novels like Harry Potter, Kids Adventures books, Kids Magazines
- Car and Two-wheeler driving skills during teenage
- Watching cartoons, kids movies
- Reading and telling stories.
3. Your kids are not your money-making machines
Let your kids enjoy their childhood playful way. Slowly exploring this amazing world and learning interesting skills mentioned above. Then later let them decide what they want to do in their professional life.
4. Technology is changing
Whatever coding skill is relevant in today's market may not be even applicable after 10 years. Technologies are changing in a fast-paced manner. So there is no point in learning them now.
5. You don't know the future of your kid
You really don't know now which higher education your kids will do. Will they become doctors, managers, businessmen, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, financial advisors, and so on. There are so many opportunities. Most of them do not require coding skills at all. Quick learning, logical reasoning, design thinking, quick decision making, etc skills will enable your kid to shine in any field in the future.
6. Coding job requirements might come down in future
Just like other jobs coding professionals also facing competition from automation.
Low code, No code approach is being used in few areas on a pilot basis. Also, there is Artificial intelligence-based coding, Robotic Process Automation, etc getting popular in the industry.
7. Your kid's health is important
Coding requires sitting in front of a computer looking at light-emitting monitors and operating keyboard and mouse-like input devices which are not good for their eyes, hands, and body. Also, ergonomic issues can occur after sitting for a long time in front of computers and operating them.
8. Risk of Game addiction and exposure to the dark side of the web
Game addiction is real. Many kids do suffer from that. Your kid could easily get attracted to Video games at an age when he cannot decide which is right or wrong. Also, the internet has its own dark side like spamming, phishing, hacking, graphic content, etc. You should keep your kid safe from them.
How to make your kid the best coder in the world!?
What you can do so that you will enable your kid to become the best coder in the future? Please note I am not telling that your kid should never learn to code at all. But introducing it even before learning other basic skills will not serve any purpose.
In my opinion, you can prepare your kid to become the best coder by training below skills.
- Fast Keyboard Typing skill - If your kid can get a keyboard typing class and learn to type 100 to 120 words per minute without any errors that will help when he becomes a coder.
- Computer Basics and usage - History of computer, its parts and using the document, spreadsheets, and presentation software.
- Mathematics - Mathematics will definitely help your kid to develop problem-solving, logical reasoning skills. Also, many of the mathematical concepts will be useful in certain domains of programming.
- Writing Skills - It will be useful for a coder while documenting his approaches, sending emails to the team or higher officials.
- Abstract and creative thinking - Help your kids to become more creative and understand abstract concepts. This skill is very important for a developer.
- Communication and negotiation skills - Communicating with business clients and negotiating with them is very important for a coder.
- Problem Solving - This is a must-have skill for a good coder. Assist your kid to develop problem-solving skills in different scenarios.
Conclusion
Teach your kids culture, basic skills useful for a wide variety of real-life scenarios rather than stereotyping them as a coder from childhood. Let them be playful fully enjoy their enjoy childhood rather than making their life stressful by putting a lot of goals in front of them. They are not your money-making machines. If your neighbor's kid picks up a camera and becomes successful in vlogging does not mean that your kids should follow the same and also there is no guarantee of success. Similarly, coding does not guarantee financial success for everyone. There are a lot of other factors and skills your kids should have, without that success will be a dream. Enable your kids with basic skills and teach them how to do focus and hard work in any field so that they can succeed in the future and endure any challenges which life might bring in.
Tags:
Tution Class