Many parents whose children attend the EVComputing trial class say something like, “I tried teaching my child programming, we wrote some programs, but…” Then, the child’s and parent’s eyes meet, exchanging a look that says a lot about what happened after they wrote some programs together.
Truth be told, we parents aren’t always the most engaging teachers, the most patient tutors, or the most supportive coaches. Though you might be an engineer or a blogger by profession and feel like you know your child better than anyone, there are many reasons why it is often not the best idea for a parent to teach their child physics, chemistry, writing or any field they may be an expert in.
Difference between knowing and teaching
Just as a successful basketball coach is not necessarily a star basketball player, so too is a knowledgeable person of a topic not automatically able to successfully teach that topic. For one, having years of experience in the topic takes the knowledgeable person years away from what it was like to be a new learner. Teachers, on the other hand, are trained to work with learners. They have practiced how to explain a concept and then let the child learn on his own through appropriate exercises. Additionally, teachers know how to slowly nudge the child towards a solution to the exercise rather than provide the answer too soon.
Patience is essential
As many parents know, children often behave better around adults who are not their parents. This includes paying attention more, thoroughly absorbing what is said, and applying new knowledge with perseverance. For children, it is sometimes easier to listen to a new voice–a voice that has not been telling them what to do and what not to do their entire lives. For adults, it might be easier to be patient with a student other than with their own child.
As parents, we love our children, we care for our children, and we want the best for our children; but perhaps we become too emotionally vested in our children to be able to focus only on the immediate teaching task at hand. Arguments and regular family strife associated with daily life unwittingly impact the teaching experience. I like to think of it as grandparents who spend a pleasant, enjoyable hour with a well-fed, freshly diapered and napped baby, and are able to hand it back to the parents at the end of that hour. In that hour, the grandparents are not thinking about the baby’s upcoming doctor appointment, concerned about the child’s grades, addressing disciplinary issues, or enforcing household chores. They are able to focus on the things that grandparents do. Similarly, teachers are able to focus on what teachers do: create lesson plans, track student progress, build curriculum, explain concepts, assess acquisition of knowledge.
Curriculum creation or curation
There is an abundance of tutorials and videos available online to learn any programming language. Which is the best one for your child? What programming challenges engage her the most? What is her learning style? Educators are trained to factor in these points, spending hours outside of class time creating, curating and customizing the curriculum for each student This is time that parents should not have to invest. This is time that parents could use being the parent.
The parent-child relationship has limited mutual goodwill available to it each day and each week. Don’t squander this over things that you can outsource. Save it for teaching your child your values, responsibility, time management and other life skills. I say this from experience. On the brink of being an empty-nester, I am glad we opted for tutors or coaches whenever possible and saved our patience and together-time for things others cannot teach our children.
That being said, there are times when a parent and child need to or want to explore programming together. Here are a few blog-posts from the EVComputing blog that will be helpful in this joint learning: Computer Science Activities, Python Resources, Touch-Typing.
I hope that you and your child will enjoy what those blog-posts have to offer. Getting into programming with your child is an exciting move, and it could be an activity you enjoy together. But when you are ready for your child to learn the ropes of programming or become even more advanced than he already is, know that EVComputing is here to offer that instruction.
