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Introducing a Child to Constructive Computer Use?
trevorgensch asks: "I have a young boy, about 6 years old, who is starting to take an interest in the computer I seem to spend too much time at lately. Lots of Slashdot readers out there must have had experiences with their young child wanting to learn more. I am all for it! But where to start? He has had a bit of experience with the Internet and children's sites and official sites of Pixar and Disney movies, but he wants more. Any pointers?"
A gentoo Linux command prompt livecd (not the graphical new one) and a FreeBSD (or netbsd if you like)
:)
Teach him to work it at first. Teach him how to look up data online, how to use links at that command prompt. He will respect that machine and what it can do FAR more once he spends time building it
Get him reading Linux Kernel Internals and other things.
He'll come away with understanding but without becoming too embroiled in the corporate wars. (let him form his own decisions about it later, I may hate Microsoft, and always have, but at one time I did quite a bit of gaming on the sole windows machine I used to have, now I no longer need them and can use Wine and Cedega to do so if gaming becomes a necessity)
All in all you will get a technically aware child who will understand (hopefully) that something is far more precious if you build it yourself and put your own blood sweat and code than if you just throw away 299.99 bucks on it and expect to learn nothing and have it still work.
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
Introduce him to GTA as soon as possible. That way he'll be nicely inured to all the violence and sex, so by the time he sees it outside the house, it won't be a big deal.
By the way, when he starts having nightmares, DON'T coddle him...nightmares never killed anyone (although I'm not sure about night terrors), and what does not kill you makes you stronger.
Trust me, one day he'll thank you.
Probably while you're asleep...you won't feel a thing.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
I have a daughter about that age. I say don't let them watch tv or use the computer. ...and when your daughter gets a BSOD, my daughter will fix it for her.
Introducing a small child to perl, you're sick. Think about all the ways it could scar the kid's mind. WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN.
Posted AC because the mod's have no sense of humor, it's funny, laugh.
It's important to teach him those life skills of "trolling" and "flaming" at an early age!