Hellobee Boards Topic: Will you teach your child to code?

Hellobee Boards Topic: Will you teach your child to code? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 06 May 2026 18:18:49 +0000 sunny on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2632542 Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:53:49 +0000 sunny 2632542@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I don't see software development moving completely offshore anytime soon. Yes there are lots of jobs moving overseas (I've worked with lots of offshore developers), but the quality just isn't there. For all the bellyaching about the American school system and how we are behind the rest of the world, America has a culture of innovation that is unrivaled. I believe there will be local software jobs at the highest levels for years to come. Tools will continue to making coding easier and faster. The new features of modern IDEs are practically magical compared to what I learned on. But we are a ways away from everything being as simple as drag and drop. ShootingStar on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631816 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 16:17:57 +0000 ShootingStar 2631816@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Sketchbook: I've never met a tech writer who could code. If they could, they'd be a dev instead and make twice as much 😉. My company does security as a service (SAAS) with the majority of our services available on our web platform, hosted in the cloud. We have both a licensing model and a pay per use, depending which product. And we still employ many developers to create the proprietary software hosted on our platform. And our company hosted website is for sure not a wordpress site. And we're just a medium sized start up, not a huge power player. T.H.O.U. on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631783 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:13:09 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2631783@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I wish my alternate career was a database administrator. I think the structure of data is fascinating and data is only going to grow substantially. Mrs. Sketchbook on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631779 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:08:11 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 2631779@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @ShootingStar: I definitely do not work in software but I did a master's in technical writing and worked in an engineering firm for a while I was surprised by how much you can get away with not knowing about the products/software you're selling/writing about. Most of the technical writers I know of work inside a program and don't have to code. The engineers I worked with made the interfaces for audio visual touchscreens and they also used a program to make them. Also at one point they had a part time website person, IT person, and two administrative personnel. By the time I left one person handled the website (they used WordPress or something similar), all internal communications and storage was via sharepoint, and the admins were gone. The same person who managed the sharepoint and the website also handled IT. They didn't need a specific web person, admin person, PR person, IT person. And none of it required coding anymore! My father works for Microsoft in Southeast Asia and he said with cloud computing they are moving away from a license model to a pay-for-use model. This sort of indicated to me that the software world is starting to flatten. I took an instructional design classlast semester and we worked with a little coding program but even THAT was a user interface with drag and drop. Back when I first learned to do HTML I would just open notepad and test it online! I imagine in the future that coding will be important for people who code, but we will be surprised at how much will be accomplishable without it. But TBH I am a big believer in the idea that work itself is obsolete. So I admit I am biased at the very outset of the conversation. I don't think there will be a salaried, 40 hour workday job for my kids. With 8 billion plus, how could there be? ShootingStar on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631670 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 12:00:05 +0000 ShootingStar 2631670@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @looch: I agree. What I do for a living is design software. I don't code myself more than HTML/CSS but I have to understand very technical concepts. I wish that I had more of a foundation in coding. And you described exactly what DH does too, lol. And yes, he needs that knowledge. Plus, with testing there can be a certain amount of automated tests that have to be created, which is done with coding. skinnycow on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631658 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 11:36:11 +0000 skinnycow 2631658@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I have no clue how to code... My DH works in IT though, so maybe he will. winniebee on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631592 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 10:28:00 +0000 winniebee 2631592@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Errrr I don't know how to code. looch on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631590 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 10:23:39 +0000 looch 2631590@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Sketchbook: I think having a background in coding is helpful. In order to get the best product, I think you need to have a really good design, and for that, a good understanding of the technical and functional requirements...knowing how to program can be very helpful in that aspect. And similarly, when testing, it is helpful to understand why and how certain things trigger actions. Small things, like if a field is dynamic or static, where it pulls data from, is it refreshed intraday or batch...I can go on and on. It makes for better test cases and a better final product. ShootingStar on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631587 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 10:17:33 +0000 ShootingStar 2631587@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Mrs. Sketchbook: I'm guessing you don't work in software? Coding is for sure not dead. I've been doing this for 10 years, and yes a certain percentage of work gets outsourced. But far and away everywhere I've worked it's only a small percent, and the people who do code and understand software are the most valued. There's a lot more out there than web design and coding, but even that is still very much in demand. Real companies don't have Wordpress websites. And with everything moving to there cloud, a web interface can be even more important. Mamaof2 on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631577 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 10:10:11 +0000 Mamaof2 2631577@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Only if they are interested in learning it. Mrs. Sketchbook on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631575 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 10:09:20 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 2631575@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Honestly I kinda think coding is dead! Sounds like it is being outsourced overseas more and more. I don't know if my kids would benefit from it. I taught myself HTML as a middle schooler but by the time I got into college, everyone was making websites with WordPress and even my technical design professor was clear that using a program to make a website wasn't "worse" than hand coding because it is the product that counts. I know HTML and website design is pretty outdated example to offer but that's kinda my point...you can teach a child some sort of tech but by the time he/she is old enough to get a job, that tech will be obsolete. My brothers are both in college getting degrees in CS and I am curious to see where they end up. Coding or IT support.... In short, if they see interested why not? It may lead to something, but I wouldn't count on it. looch on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631503 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 07:50:40 +0000 looch 2631503@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I personally do not know how to code, but given what I have experienced, I can not see how it would be harmful to know. I have to ask how it is integrated into the curriculum at my son's school, I honestly have no idea how it is integrated (they have a computer lab, so my assumption is that they do get some exposure). ShootingStar on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631485 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 07:18:38 +0000 ShootingStar 2631485@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes, DH and I both work in software, though he's more into coding than me. I think it's a good skill to have in today's world. lamariniere on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631455 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 04:48:01 +0000 lamariniere 2631455@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I don't know anything about it, but my husband is in IT. He's the one who seeks out kids apps/games and things like that, so he will be in charge of it if it isn't taught in school (and I have no idea if it is or not). T.H.O.U. on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631445 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 01:24:05 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2631445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @brownie: thanks I'll have to look into some of these. I think we have Scratch Jr but she much prefers Kodable. PurplePeony on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631442 Tue, 04 Oct 2016 00:41:05 +0000 PurplePeony 2631442@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I never gave it a thought, to be honest. It's definitely not a priority for us, and certainly not until she's at least school-aged. We want her in front of screens as little as possible for as long as we can manage. But I'm a lawyer in a very non-tech-related area, and DH is a professional musician, and neither of us has the first clue about coding so we can't teach her. And as long as she's going to take an "extracurricular" class in the near future, it will be music and/or a physical activity like dance. We won't keep her from learning to code when she's older if she says she's interested, but the thought of her sitting in front of a computer screen as a young kid instead of going outside, playing pretend in her little kitchen or with her dollhouse, reading books, etc really rubs me the wrong way. brownie on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631427 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 23:13:48 +0000 brownie 2631427@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes!!! My 5 year old already programs and loves it. I teach computer science and programming and feel it is so important. I start with vocabulary at toddlerhood. We teach the potty algorithm. I just got my code a pillar for the kids. We play the board game robot turtles. And we have a kibo robot. My son loves the foos which is programming for pre readers and. He builds his own game levels. Scratch Jr. didn't hold his interest as much. Once he can read we will be teaching code.org and then html and JavaScript. He shows an aptitude and interest in that area though. My daughter kills me. She's 17 months old and won't touch the iPhone except to eat it. But she will be exposed to it all but not forced. I hope she will learn to enjoy programming one day. farawayyama on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631405 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 21:36:53 +0000 farawayyama 2631405@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Probably the basics. I have heard awesome things about girls who code. honeybear on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631386 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 21:03:47 +0000 honeybear 2631386@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Pancakes: I wanted to say this too: I think it's very important that you and your husband focus on sharing with your child(ren) the things that you're really interested in and really good at, especially if they're in school for most of the day. If reading Shakespeare or playing the violin or baking cupcakes is your thing, you should read Shakespeare or play the violin or bake cupcakes with them, not flit around through slickly packaged coding programs that you don't (collectively) really enjoy. Don't chase the flavor of the month in education just because it's what everyone else is doing. sandy on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631376 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 20:49:01 +0000 sandy 2631376@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'd say it's not about math at all. It's more like solving a puzzle or riddle. Like how there's a logic and problem solving portion of the LSAT to get into law school - need to think logically and solve problems but not at all about math honeybear on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631369 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 20:31:05 +0000 honeybear 2631369@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It's not a priority right now. My son is Kindergarten age. I think that in the early grades, learning to think logically and solve problems in other ways is more important. If using computers to solve complex math problems is the ultimate goal, it seems to me that the proper place to focus your efforts early is on the math, not the computers. I also suspect that coding programs done poorly have a high potential to teach children to be automatons (albeit probably inadvertently), so I'd proceed with caution. avivoca on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631347 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:52:49 +0000 avivoca 2631347@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I did not realize that this was a thing. I won't go out of my way to because I can barely code, but if she learns at school, that's fine. sunny on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631327 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:33:02 +0000 sunny 2631327@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Omg crazy! I guess if the other kids are learning I suppose we should teach our kids too, but it really didn't occur to me that it was necessary. And this is coming from parents who are professional software developers! MrsRcCar on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631292 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 18:53:41 +0000 MrsRcCar 2631292@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We plan to reach our kiddos to code. DH and I are very tech minded so it's important to us. sandy on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631290 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 18:50:48 +0000 sandy 2631290@https://boards.hellobee.com/ At LO's school they do teach coding and introduce it as early as pre-k. They use Kodable which I'm not super impressed with yet. Like PPs said it's more about logic and problem solving than the specific program language. I have friends whose kids also learn coding at school and as early as 2nd grade the kids are using their coding skills to make computer games. There are also summer camps for coding that friends have said are really great but super expensive. PawPrints on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631257 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:29:13 +0000 PawPrints 2631257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes, I'm pretty passionate that DD (particularly since she's a girl) needs to have real computer literacy, and in this era that means knowing how to code. Computers run the world, so, it's a good idea to be someone who knows how to control them. Winnie13 on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631235 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 16:50:41 +0000 Winnie13 2631235@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'm a teacher and the gifted teacher teaches coding at our school to all the ES (new word for gifted) students. I think it's pretty cool, but our old ES teacher taught the whole child (lots of art and history and science), it was awesome! The school may be teaching it during the technology block. codeitall on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631211 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 16:14:36 +0000 codeitall 2631211@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'm a web developer and my husband is in IT so he knows a lot of coding as well, but I will probably only deliberately teach my child to code if I don't see it being taught in school to my satisfaction. We may get a couple problem-solving type toys along with the science kits and all, but like @catlady we try to limit screen time. I've volunteered through work to teach at girl coding camps and nearby elementary schools with scratch (MIT) and code.org. I really like those programs but @T.H.O.U is right. The language itself isn't as important as the problem solving and algorithms. Those are translatable to more than just a computer screen. 808love on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631201 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 16:03:55 +0000 808love 2631201@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I let LO 'play for fun' on a coding educational app called Scratch Jr. :) Here's a link for some fun coding apps with age-appropriate range. <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/coding-apps-and-websites" rel="nofollow">https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/coding-apps-and-websites</a> MrsSCB on "Will you teach your child to code?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/will-you-teach-your-child-to-code#post-2631152 Mon, 03 Oct 2016 14:43:59 +0000 MrsSCB 2631152@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My husband is a programmer, so I'm sure he will! I was an English major so....that will probably be up to him, haha. My high school actually required one computer science class, though it was a science and tech focused school. But maybe by the time my kids are in school it will be the norm?