Technology is all around us. It peppers the everyday lives of the modern individual. We have a classic example of consumer technology: our smartphones. We have communications technology springing up in massive ways. We have electric vehicles with Easter eggs and tricks built-in just to entice and entertain the customers. We live in a world of wondrous science and cool tech. This is also the world we’re raising our kids in. We see kids with iPads all the time. They know how to scroll before they know how to talk or walk. It’s a co-opted primal behavior now. While we raise our children in this new era, we can give them a clear advantage by teaching them how it all works. What better gift than to give them an understanding of the technology that runs the future. Here’s how you can do that.
Normalize Things Like Tech Currency
The first and coolest thing you can do is normalize learning about modern tech. Everything can stem from the openness that one approaches a topic. Teaching your kids about technology is bound to change everything; like money, for instance. The concept of currency is something kids (and most adults) only have a cursory understanding of. We teach them the value of hard work and reward. Introducing the idea that even money can be changed and modified with tech is a powerful learning tool. If you take a look at https://cryptoevent.io/review/bitcoin-loophole/ you can even expound on how value is traded throughout the internet. You can even gift them their own fractions (or whole, if you’re so inclined) bitcoin. Adding the notion of tech-based value systems will forever change how they look at their interactions online.
Instill Mental Models
When you teach your kid about the world, we’re given a choice of how to go about instilling knowledge. We can give simple answers and solid matter-of-fact morsels of info, or we can provide mental models. Going through the motions of how to scientifically look at something is an invaluable tool that will carry itself to their later years. It’s not just about breaking things down to their most fundamental parts. It’s about having the patience to communicate it to a child. When this grows and expands, you can use these same mental models of thought to technology. It will actively demystify the world of tech we often take for granted.
Encourage Coding
Introducing a child to problem-solving like coding at a young age will help them far into the future. It’s not just about coding as a skill, it’s about developing problem-solving skills. Traditionally we used mathematics as a tool to develop this. The problem with using things like algebra is that there’s no payoff except more numbers. When it comes to coding, the idea of applied mathematics and a visual outcome that one can experience in the real world, become prime motivators. It anchors the concepts.
With these tools at your child’s disposal, they can be poised and ready to face the years to come. They might not get int STEM courses as they get older. They might not even like science and technology. They might outgrow it. But the mode of thinking, tinkering, and questioning will assure that they’ll never be left in the dust of the speeding times.
