Technology and Crypto are a guaranteed STAPLE in YOUR CHILD'S FUTURE - EDUCATE THEM NOW!

in #steemitbloggers6 years ago (edited)

About a year ago – approximately the same time that I joined Steemit… I created a Youtube channel for my then 7 year old son at his request. We made some fantastic videos involving all kinds of fun stuff, but then things got a little hectic business wise and I simply did not have the time for it anymore. In Jan this year, when I chose to close my business and turn to Steemit full time, I decided that I simply MUST create a Steemit profile for him and continue the EPIC videos we had been making…

As life will have it, I didn’t get to it quite as early in the year as I would have liked, but I did eventually get there a few weeks ago and we have been having an absolute BLAST creating and publishing videos on @dlive. I have said this a couple of times in other posts – but for those unaware, the reason I had created the Youtube channel and begun recording videos with my son in the first place was to help build his confidence levels. IT WORKED, and it worked WELL!

His videos, and profile in general have been very well received on Steemit – especially considering he has only been here for like three weeks – and today I had a very brief conversation with one of our @steemitbloggers members which inspired me to write this post. She has obviously seen my son’s blog profile as well as some of his videos etc. She was requesting to add Jude into an upcoming feature she is doing and obviously wanted my permission to do so. She made brief mention of the fact that not all parents were as willing as I to allow their child to be highlighted.

As (what I would consider) a relatively tech savvy individual myself, I am fully aware of the reasoning behind the reluctance of many parents – safety and security being at the top of the list, but the fact of the matter is… that kids are going to explore it with or without your consent as their parents. It is a now STAPLE facet of the world we live in and parents of kids today, SERIOSULY need to wake up to that fact… because if they don’t – their kids will get left in the dust and are also potentially at a lot more risk!

Now before you all jump on your soap boxes – let me elaborate. Everything in life is about balance. EVERYTHING!!!! Even imbalance has its own respective balance. I am not saying that there isn’t a problem with the amount of time that kids spend on technology… because THERE IS – and the addiction to it is real… in fact 99.9% of you reading this are addicts and I include myself in that example.

But kids “playing” on technology is not the aspect of it that I am addressing here.

Jude is 8 now, and is given very little restriction when it comes to technology. Yes I acknowledge that a large part of that has to do with his individual character make-up which I am eternally grateful for, but despite have a phone, a tablet, a laptop and a TV at his disposal – he actually spends very little time on any of them – So I have never really had to play dictator in that respect (within reason obviously).

But again – this is not what I am getting at!

Whether your child grows up and decides to become a computer programmer or a sheep farmer, they are STILL going to need to be wise in the world of technology and to be quite honest… having been a child who pretty much broke every rule, gave very little time or attention to school and spent 90% of her growing up years high on all sorts of drugs… I can honestly say that I know FULL WELL that the “blind eye” or “ignorance is bliss” tactics are seldom winners when it comes to dealing with kids. So, in that light - rather than turning a blind eye to the reality of “today” or trying to steer my son in the opposite direction – I would far rather educate him EFFICIENTLY in the ”online realm” so that he KNOWS what he is doing and has a sense of boundaries in terms of what is ok and what is not, as well as knowing how to guard himself.

Not unlike real life really… I am very FRANK with my son. The kids which have become known to be bullies at his school, I will quite openly HIGHLIGHT as such and make sure that he understands that this is WRONG and completely unacceptable behaviour and that he is to report it – which he does (in fact probably a little too often for the staffs liking…) but boohoo for them they need to learn to do their jobs properly and if a school boasts a “no bullying policy” then they need to enforce that – end of story!

I have derailed… lol (something I am very good at, you will learn haha)

The simple fact is – technology is here to stay and I think that it is absolutely ESSENTIAL that we educate our kids! And NO…. gaming is NOT the educational part. Kids may know how to play a game backwards, forwards and blindfolded but will have no sense on how to conduct themselves responsibly online… get where I am going? The internet is filled with people of all shapes and descriptions and some of them… really aren’t very nice. Over and above that, the instances for having the wool pulled over one’s eyes are practically every second second… and whilst I cannot speak for anyone else, I know I would rather have my child wised up.

Aside from protecting them from the negatives, there are SO many future benefits literally LYING at your fingertips… opportunities that NO broker or banker will ever be able to offer you or your children lol…. TRUE STORY! Especially when it comes to the world of crypto. Getting them involved in it NOW while their brains are clean sponges, will save them so much of the hassle many of us “oldies” had to endure further down the playing field haha!

Social media can be enjoyable, but can also be fairly destructive – rather steer them in the direction of something like Steemit, where they can grasp the concept of decentralised systems, learn to save and ultimately understand the investment they are creating in their own futures.

Some people look at me like I am mad when I tell them that my son of 8 is learning coding at school… but to me, I think he is blessed to be afforded such an extra mural and they are the crazy ones for not seeing its absolute criticality in their futures… not our futures…. THEIRS!

oh... and have you met my little man? @judethedude

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……

Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx

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Greetings, sweet and most beautiful girl in the world Jayne

Actually, I think the technology will be vital to get a good cash flow in the future. Kids today are born inserted in it. About at criptomoedas, I think that those who invest in them now or has already invested, can reap good fruit in the future. At least, in regard to this is what I think, so much that I invested a part of my hard-earned work well on dimdim coin steem, buying steem power for steemit.

However, I have a huge fear of the whole thing at criptomoedas and related blockchaim technology go wrong and the value of coins dropping or simply finish 1. I have this fear all because of steem power that I have on the site.

What do you think of that, Jayne?

Thanks good afternoon!!

@julisavio I hear you! but remain optimistic 😎😍👍

i will try, Jayne. thank you!

Kids have really adopted the new tech to the extent that it really completely changes how they socialize. Our girls (11 and 12 now) often play online games with their friends on a computer while they facechat them on their phones. Their friends are now practically constant parts of our family, because they spend so much time face chatting, even when not playing games. I sometimes wonder how they would cope if we still had one phone for the house, wired to a wall. Of course, at that time we coped because we did not have access to today's technology. Even for me, it is hard for me to remember how I got information prior to the internet, even though I vividly recall the first day the first browser came out. The internet and widely available wireless connectivity is so much a part of our lives now. Just as electricity was part of my childhood (whereas my dad did his homework on a remote farm by lantern), the internet is part of our kids childhood. It will be amazing to see what wonderful things they do with it.

Proud member of #steemitbloggers @steemitbloggers

@toddrjohnson Gosh it really is mindblowing isn't it!!! Yesterday I watched my 8 year old son sitting at his laptop sending the family emails hahahaha and i was like WTF - when I was that age I was writing and posting my friends letters lol!!! but agreed - it is very exciting, except when he snatches the technology away from me and tells me I don't know what I am doing! hahahahahahahha!!!

It's a big dilemma for parents, how much supervised exposure do you give your children. One thing I will say is that I will take supervised exposure and education over unsupervised any day of the week.

This covers social media, boys, alcohol, smoking etc

My daughter is 15 so the timelines are different for now but the content is the same.

At and early age she has been able to 'try' a tiny taste of alcohol. She had a wine glass the size of a thimble where she would have her own wine and invariably taste it and leave the rest. The mind set is that it has been normal for her and accessible to her and she's not that excited about it. Jaime has just finished her end of term exams and we went out for a drink and she asked for a small cider which took her a couple of hours to drink. That's a first!

I take an active interest in new tech and social media so that makes it a bit easier to control that side of things with your child. Not all parents are tech savvy and in my experience some parents hide away from it and let their kids get on with it, which in my opinion is really dangerous.

Jaime is asking about steemit and about joining. I'm reluctant to let her jump straight on but she is viewing my stuff and some of the steemitblogger stuff. I'm going to get her to write her own article that I will post for her and gradually introduce her to it. Her understanding of crypto and blockchain are not quite there yet.

I agree with your choices for your son @jaynie and think that not only are you guiding him in the right ways to behave and conduct himself without you there but you are bonding during the process anyway. Win Win!

Gaz

@cheese4ead I could not agree with you more! I think precisely what you have outlined in terms of your approach to parenting is exactly how it should be. So often, the things that are kept at bay become like the forbidden fruit and I would rather approach things precisely as you have.

As for Jude and steemit, at this point I still manage absolutely everything so am simply laying the foundation for him in the future... the only active part he has now is the creation of the videos and content.

but yes... definitely a win win!!! 😎

I don't have a child yet but when I do, I will definitely educate them about cryptocurrency and blockchain. I love what @papa-pepper is doing, he has already created a steemit account for his children @little-peppers

@fatherfaith yes that it a fantastic thing to do. @papa-pepper is a very forward thinking individual so that does not surprise me in the least. My son LOVES the idea that he has his own account and he is loving the content creation aspect of it too. 😎

I couldn't agree with you more. I've always been a more 'rather under my roof and guidance' kinda parent. I'd rather let them explore it and understand it rather than create a perception that it is 'not allowed'. This way they are aware of what's acceptable and what is not. Putting them in a bubble won't help them in any way.

Totally agree! My kiddo is only three and apart from TV, we have not allowed him access to our phone, tablets or laptops as yet...but, we are tech people (it's our livelihood), so the day is fast approaching where he will be introduced to these things - and like you said @jaynie, they're going to access it anyway, rather let them do it with your consent and under your watch. I also worry about the safety of it all, but if you can't protect them 24/7, the least you can do is educate them.

@jaynie you inspire me
@judethedude has an amazing mom
Well done @jaynie

Really agree with this @Jaynie - we are close to setting up our own gaming channel on Dtube. It's what he wants to do - so be it.

Hi @jaynie
Well probably our kids, for sure the ones under 3 years, will never know money like we did. So yes, we do have to prepare them.
I am planning to create accounts for my 2 sons here, to give them a head start! I will be using it as a diary for them and ofcourse supporting it.
If steemit one day becomes one of the leading blockchains, they will already have an account, some reputation and some power!
When they can write decent enough English they will get the keys to the account!
Cheers,
Peter

Me too, so I did just create the account for the oldest one! Free of charge of course.
The idea is to create the account for the youngest son, this evening. Need the mobile from my wife :)

Great post and very true indeed! Am thinking of introducing my 10 year old brother to Steemit as I think he would LOVE it - very much a tech fan, same for my sis of 12 - double act perhaps (more like double trouble 🤣) Is definitley food for thought!

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