Tracy

You did Eng. Lit., right? Did any of the books you read feature paragraphs? :-)

>My daughter started programming in the 4th grade so I know it is possible. However, no one else in her grade picked it up as easily as she did. Her teacher decided it was because her mother is a programmer but I'm not so sure. I think it was more to do with the fact that I was the only parent who didn't think it was impossible and we had the resources available. I was also knowledgeable enough to keep track of her actions on the computer and online - which ok, may have been because I was a developer myself. She almost never asked for my help though. We've always had numerous computers in our home for testing and research (trying out the different operating systems, network topologies, etc) and my daughter has had one for her own use as well. She was always tasked since 3rd grade to fix the computer when the teachers had problems at school. On most occasions it was because the teachers just didn't have basic knowledge of the operating system and office suite they were using. It
> has happened year after year and still does today. It is almost worse for her in highschool. She gets pulled out of class periodically to assist a teacher in another grade. We were also the only house with licenses for development tools which she could use and spend the time to learn. However, it was NOT Visual Foxpro that she picked up easily but rather HTML and after that FLASH. I think Flash is a better tool presenting the possibilities of development to kids. She actually learned HTML before I did and was creating web pages first. She knew XML before I did as well. She had the time to learn it while I was working in VFP and Delphi at home at night meeting programming deadlines (you know how that nice salary we receive turns out to be pennies when it is divided over the number of hours you have to work each day/night!). It allowed us to be near each other while I was working so many nights at home. (Thank goodness for eblaster) She doesn't have the interest now in being
> a programmer or working in the IT field at all (thank goodness). She has seen the hours that must be invested both as a network manager (my job for years before I switched to a programming only position) and as a developer. She has also witnessed firsthand the need to keep up with technology and how the majority of the cost is born by the individual. She knows that if she picks any field which will require so much investment of her personal time that it had better be something she absolutely LOVES to do. I gave my older stepdaughter the same advice (and my neice) when they were going to college and considering IT. If you spend your free time now on the computer researching programming, networks, communications, game development, or anything in that area, then consider it. If not, stay away from it. It is too competitive to consider it for a field if you don't love it.