Introducing your child to the world of coding: A step towards future-ready parenting

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Research shows that nearly 50 percent of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) are difficult to match with the right employee. As your child grows up and enters the job force, having coding skills could give them a leg up for job openings in the next couple of decades. As a parent, it’s your job to help prepare your children for what the future might hold. While you can’t be 100% sure of what’s coming, getting your kids involved with coding is sure to be helpful. Here’s how you can do it. 

Build on School Skills

Your child may not be able to take a coding specific class in school, but you can use the skills to boost their performance in the classroom, something that gets them ready for their future, both in successive grades, as well as when they complete their education. Not only can coding foster confidence in kids, but it has also been shown to improve math, writing and creativity skills. 

Encourage Math

Math is a required subject for all students, through high school and perhaps even into college. You can get your child ready for the future by encouraging them to set their sights on various math skills, something that coding goes right along with. For example, computer science may satisfy a math requirement but approaches the subject in a different way. 

Make Time for Creativity

With an emphasis on the core subjects – math, English, history, science, etc., creative pursuits may fall by the wayside. If you make time for coding, you help your child build creativity skills naturally. Combined with activities like writing, music, art and dance, you can further enhance the benefits that coding offers and help your child create a well-rounded skill set to carry them into the future. 

Make It Fun

When coding becomes a chore, your child will no longer find it fun. If you want your child to make coding a lifelong passion, it needs to be fun. That means approaching it with play – toys, games and coding events are all fantastic ways to make it enjoyable enough that your child will want to come back to it time and time again. 

Turn it Into a Language

For some kids, approaching coding as you would a foreign language makes it more interesting and accessible. Learning the language of computers and how coding interacts with the programs on their devices brings a new perspective to the table. Emphasize that coding skills will help them all along their future path, but don’t forget to make it fun. 

Use it to Build Soft Skills

If your child struggles with soft skills, like focus and organization, you may notice a natural byproduct of learning to code being that those skills improve. Your child gets to have fun and at the same time, you are doing your part to prepare them with important skills they are going to need for all future endeavors. 

Foster Their Dreams

Not all children are going to end up in jobs that require coding skills, but if you find that yours has a passion for it, foster that. CodeMonkey is a great introduction to the skills and makes it fun to learn. Not only are coding classes keeping your kids busy and teaching them new skills, but it’s also prepping them for a future that is sure to continue growing AI and digital platforms.

Digital jobs aren’t going anywhere and as your child grows up, his or her skills are going to be part of finding a job, perhaps one that doesn’t even exist yet. For that reason, preparing your kid now is a simple (and fun) way to get them ready to be ahead of the crowd when the time comes. 

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