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Children's Books for Geek Parents?
Lithium_Golem asks: "My wonderful daughter will be nine months old next month and I figure that it's time to buy her some new bedtime story material. My problem is that I can't find any children's books that describe fathers as white collar workers, let alone computer geeks. For example, many of the stories I find portray the ideal father as a fireman, carpenter or truck driver. I'm not looking for anything specific like 'I love my dad because he's a programmer,' I'm just looking for a story that will help her understand what I do for a living when she's older. So, readers of Slashdot, does anyone know of a children's book written by or for geeks, or should I write my own?"
Right now why don't you work on stimulating her imagination, rather than trying to help her understand what you do? There'll be plenty of time to talk about your boring job (no offense) to her later in life.
...and that's all there is to it.
Just try any old technical manual off your shelf. They'll know just what you go through every day, and it'll put 'em right to sleep, too.
Next?
Childrens' books won't be her only source of understanding. You want her to know what you do? spend time with her. Tell her yourself. Explain it to her as best you can for whatever age she's at when she wants to know.
;)
My dad's a physicist. I don't remember any kids' books (when I was nine months, nine years, or now) that really "feature" physicists on the same level as truck drivers and cops. I learned what he did because he told me. And I cared 'cause he was there to tell me
To paraphrase something rather different, "you may be the only book about programmers your daughter ever reads".
I read books about kings, and firemen, and soldiers, and... my father was none of those, and it didn't matter. My father taught me about what he did by teaching me himself about what he did. You don't need a book for that.
I *must* recommend Everybody Poops or any of it's companion books such as The Gas We Pass.
...although his father is a caterer. Accountants are knowledge workers, right? Closest that comes to mind, but Arthur's mom's work isn't really explained in any of the series that I read, come to think of it. Computer programming is a harder concept for a very young child to grasp than fighting fires, I think. If you're perceptive, you'll be able to tell when the child is ready to get something out of an explanation, but you are unlikely to find the best such explanation in a book, IMO. I think DIY is called for.
The song in "The Roads Must Roll" is all reet.
Just spend lots of time with her at that age. They are really neat when they are so small.
Change her diapers, feed her, burp her, carry her around, etc. She may never remember you doing these things for her, but you will.
It also helps later on when your inevitable foot comes down. It's much easier to do so when you can cite "all the things I did for you, and here's the video evidence".
I'm assuming you have a video camera.
I'd recommend printing off Microsoft product descriptions from their website. They have a huge collection of fairy tales.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
You might be pressed for finding a good book for yourself, but here's an idea:
Build something that none of the other fathers can make. Find a cool little project that your kid will love that only an IT guy could make.
For example, a home entertainment box, custom LCD panel fake windows (thanks slashdot;)) etc. I can't really imagine a fireman being able to make them, and they'll illustrate what you do a hell of a lot better than a kid's bedtime story. Plus your kid will be able to talk about the thing that that their dad made that the other kid's couldnt.
Why do you think your daughter needs to understand what you do? By "understand", based on your message, I'm assuming that you mean "programmer vs. farmer" type of understanding, and not just an understanding that people need to work for a living.
I am a computer geek trying to start my own business. I stay home and program all day, for the most part. My intelligent, college-degreed wife, has no clue what I do, which sometimes causes friction. How do you expect to explain anything meaningful to your daughter?
For that matter, I don't recall understanding what my father did until I was well into high school. Why would that matter?
I'd also like to echo a couple of comments to the effect of "you are the book". What can a book, a child's book of perhaps 500 child-level words no less, hope to explain?
Why not just show her, and answer damn near every question with "You might understand when you're older"? Most kids I know will accept that, and at this point, it is the literal truth. There are oh-so-many ways that a child at that age can't understand programming; learn about child developmental psychology. Children are not little adults. She's several cognitive frameworks short of understanding your job, and pushing the issue can only hurt your relationship and her interest.
Your daughter is very young. She doesn't care what you do for crust. She doesn't care what firemen and policemen do for crust either.
Your daughter cares about you and her immediate family. They are her entire world right now. Just spend time reading big colourful books with her. Cuddle her, change her, feed her, do all the things parents are supposed to do.
There's not point trying to teach her what you do. In the grand scheme of things it's not really important as long as you can support her and love her.
There is inherrent value in teaching her what people like police and firemen do though, she may need to call upon them early in her life.
Let her learn and understand you as she grows and develops. Kids aren't stupid. They're surprisingly smart, and they absorb so much more than anybody gives them credit for. She will figure it out in her own time, provided you are willing to share with her at her pace.
I drink to make other people interesting!
For example, many of the stories I find portray the ideal father as a fireman, carpenter or truck driver
Those jobs can't (yet) be outsourced. Your fluffy computer job can. A healthy respect for those lowly blue/grey collar jobs is a good thing. With any luck, my son will be a plumber when he grows up. Lord knows one thing we'll never have down pat is how to pump shit out of our houses.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
I read him the the question, and here is what my son said:
I want you to write a book. Not about you, but about a story. "How about dinousars, please?"
q:Do you want to learn about my work?
a: sure
q:Do you want to learn it from a book?
a: yes
q:Would you rather I wrote a book about work, or about a story?
a: a story about dinosaurs
q:so, how would you like to learn about my work?
a: going to work! (excited about this).
from my son: I hope you get my dad to teach me about it, and to try do do the same things at work, and I hope you have a great day, end it with a smile. If I ever come over to work, please have a great smile ready for me. I hope you have a fun day at work.
In short, being a dad is more important than being a geek, They'll learn about your work in time.
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
Wow. I can't believe I just wrote that
The possible titles amuse me
Junie B. Jones Determines that Cleaning Her Room is NP-Complete
The Little Finite State Automaton That Could
Goldilocks and the Three SysAdmins
The Monsters in My Code
OK, it's late. My apologies for subjecting you all to my incoherent rambling
BTW, I tell my daughter that I write video games (I am a developer, but not a game developer) because, at 8, that is the only software that she can relate to.
Well, not so much about Geek parents, but there's always this classic childrens book.
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Many Waters
If I recall correctly, the children's father was a bit of an intellect. The boy hero certainly was. This probably isn't suitable just yet since it has no pictures but I thought you needed to keep this in mind. Amazing stories requiring a great deal of imagination and a respect for intelligence. They're probably what have kept my feet so firmly planted in the air all these years.
Also, to put her to bed I suggect the ISO/IEC C standard. The 1999 committee draft is a doozie.
Direct away from face when opening.
In the meantime, don't bother trying to be the protagonist of a story in a book somewhere. From her point of view, you're Daddy. Do the daddy things well, and love her well, because what you do for a living is incredibly peripheral to her life---it's just something that you go to in the morning and come home from ("Yaaay! Daddy's home!") at night.
Read her stuff you enjoy reading and that she enjoys having you read to her. Read her Where the Wild Things Are and James and the Giant Peach. Read her lots and lots of Seuss. Read her stuff you enjoyed as a kid. Read her Pooh. Read her The Monster at the End of This Book, starring Grover. Do the voices when you read---she'll be giggling at your Grover impersonation even when she's in college.
When she asks her what you do for a living, don't point to some character in a book: Tell her. Show her. Invite her to the office along for an hour or two and show her off to everybody you work with.
I swear to you it doesn't matter what you read to her, as long as it amuses and stimulates her, and as long as you do it out of love.
This is not my sandwich.
Yea - creating a hero from a software or hardware guy is as easy as unplugging the router before you leave the house to go to work. By 9am you are getting calls from home because the kids can't surf the net and wife can't 'do email'. By the time you get home the natives are restless, or perhaps on the verge of panic.
You get home, put a bath towel on your back like a cape and ~fly~ around the house from computer to computer using your ~x-ray~ vision to ~diagnose the problem~. Then you plug in the router, fix the Internet, and you are a hero.
Works for me about once a month.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer