A really touching story about a guy going to the hardware store with his young son, and realizing just how capable kids can be, followed by a fantastic comment by a Hacker News contributor:
Article: http://gamesbyemail.com/WoodTape/Default.htm
One of the nicest ideas I got from Adam Savage is the idea of a hardware store expense account. His father, instead of giving him an allowance, would give him a certain amount of money he could spend every week at the hardware store.
An artist who is a hero of mine, Toshi Iwai in his talks describes how his parents stopped buying toys for him when he turned 10. He was encouraged to design and build his own toys. When he talks about his art, he always starts by showing these great sketches and flipbooks he made as a ten year old.
Anyway, I find this approach (expense account for building supplies, encouraging children to build their own toys) really quite inspiring and plan on trying to raise my children the same way when they are that age.
This seems like brilliant advice to me. I’m not terribly keen on giving kids an allowance, as it seems like a much better lesson to show them how to go out and earn money, but this seems like a solid alternative than flat out giving them cash. The bit about encouraging kids to design and build their own toys/games/programs/whatever also seems smart. I could see it being hard to get some kids to actually do this, but bribery, or lack of alternatives, should help, right?
What say you, readers? Any ideas or techniques that worked particularly well on you, or that you’ve done with your kids?
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This is my first visit to your site, so first of all, thanks for posting such interesting material! I enjoyed reading this post in particular, as raising children seems like a mystery to me. I’m a fairly methodical/organized person and I’m continually astounded by the way people go about raising children seemingly with no rhyme or reason. Anyway, this opened up a new line of thinking for me and I really appreciate the fresh insight!
Well, welcome and thanks!
To be clear, I have absolutely no first hand experience raising children, so it’s a bit hard to criticize. I’m sure it’s a frantic scramble and a huge adjustment, but it does seem that even smart, educated, and well meaning people seem to make some horribly ill-planned decisions. Here’s hoping with a little forethought and planning we can avoid some of those 🙂
Hi AJ, I couldn’t agree more. Being around wood shops, metal shops and garages as I grew up was endlessly fascinating. I learned so much about how things are made and how things work.
I’m hoping to pass that spirit on to my kids. I read a great story the other day about a game developer who helped his 5 year old daughter build a flash game. It has been very well received and already raised about $3,000 for her college fund. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sissy%27s_Magical_Ponycorn_Adventure. My 4 year old and 6 year old had a lot of fun playing that game.
That’s very cool! Thanks for sharing.
I think one of the things that’s lost on kids (and their parents) is just how accessible the world is to them. Even the richest, most powerful, busiest, etc. etc. people in the world will go out of their way to give time to kids who are genuinely interested. The access that’s available to a 9-year-old is exponentially greater than that available to an 18-year-old. Definitely something to try to take advantage of.