DEV Community

Teaching My Kids Linux

Ashley Roach on May 04, 2017

My kids (9 and 12 years old) liked the idea of learning programming, but they really weren't making much progress and would lose interest pretty qu...
Collapse
 
arandilopez profile image
Arandi López

I have the reversed case... I teach my father how to use Linux.

Collapse
 
ovcrymysyn profile image
Aλexander Zafirov

And how did that go? I'm planning to do the same with my parents.

Collapse
 
arandilopez profile image
Arandi López

Well, for simple things He use ruby. I have configured all the environment but I'm planing to leave him to install from fresh after read your post.

Collapse
 
kittyhacker101 profile image
kittyhacker101

Tomorrow, I am going to actually attempt to teach my Grandma how to use Ubuntu. This will be fun.

Collapse
 
captainkraft profile image
CaptainKraft

My son is 8 and hasn't shown an ounce of interest in computers. Maybe one day I can bring him over to the dark side :-)

Yours truly,
Sad programmer dad

Collapse
 
kittyhacker101 profile image
kittyhacker101

Lol, I am 13 and I am better at programming than some adults. I learned everything off the internet, because I am the only person in my entire family who is actually interested in this kind of stuff.

Collapse
 
captainkraft profile image
CaptainKraft

It took me years to finally get off my bum and do some programming. I wish I hadn't been so lazy as a kid. When I was in 3rd grade, I decided I wanted to make games. Didn't even try until I was 20-something

Thread Thread
 
kittyhacker101 profile image
kittyhacker101

Lol, I started when I first got the idea. Like, the same day.
Also, I got the WiFi password for my schools WiFi when I was 11, and everyone was like "How did you do this? Are you a hacker?".

Thread Thread
 
tbodt profile image
tbodt

are you a hacker

Thread Thread
 
kittyhacker101 profile image
kittyhacker101

Maybe...

Thread Thread
 
tbodt profile image
tbodt

spoopy

Collapse
 
miriamtocino profile image
Miriam Tocino

That's sad. It's been a while since you posted this.
I wonder, did you have any luck over the last years?

P.S. I have a 3yo now and I'm doing my best for him to know that understanding computers is a superpower. ;D

Collapse
 
cvuorinen profile image
Carl Vuorinen

I started with my oldest girl when she was 4. Nothing advanced, just to learn about saving files to hard drive etc. Mostly it was text-to-speach, which was most fun. Since then we've done some Scratch games and some hardware stuff with Raspberry Pi. You can read more in this blog if interested ifgirlthencode.blogspot.fi/2015/03...

Collapse
 
speedstream profile image
Aaron Santos

My sister broke his laptop. Now, she use my laptop (no problem, my boss give me one to work) with Debian using XFCE with minimal interface (I use everything with command line).
The first time she used it, she almost cry. So, I teached her how to use it and, of course, the first thing she wanted to do is to install a new desktop more friendly to her.

Collapse
 
ajfeather profile image
A.J. Feather

This seems like a fantastic idea. It creates the sort of interest-gaining boosts I remember from even simple re-wiring projects around the house when I was growing up. I remember feeling the same sense of ownership in Operating Systems the first time I finally got my ArchLinux-installing script to run properly.

Collapse
 
miriamtocino profile image
Miriam Tocino • Edited

I loved reading your adventures with Linux and your kids! It made clear that we need to start from a point that they already feel engaged with.

It's been a while since you posted this... How far did they go with Linux and loving computers by now? Are they still in only for Minecraft? :D

Thanks for sharing, Ashley!

Collapse
 
bflatt72 profile image
Brian Flatt

I have dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux on my laptop. My daughter is only 10 and the other day she cracked my password and found her way to Chrome and opened it and used it to Google something. Kids today are incredibly smart and it taught me not to use the same password for everything. Haha

Collapse
 
vallard profile image
Vallard Benincosa

Awesome! I'll need these ideas too!

Collapse
 
toepoke_co_uk profile image
⚽ toepoke.co.uk ⚽

Parents? I'd love a series for me! 😊

Collapse
 
developius profile image
Finnian Anderson

Nice job! I'm trying to get my siblings (14, 13 & 11 yrs) interested but so far, no luck. I'm trying to find something tangible but so far, no luck.

Collapse
 
amirbhs profile image
Amir Khan

Good to see that the children got the teacher in their father.
Keep it up bro