And a final point... as much fun as nostalgia is, making our children live our childhoods just because it worked out well for us would be doing our children a terrible disservice, because our children are not growing up in the same context we did. The digital revolution is not over yet, and I would not want to raise an analog adult to compete in the world that is yet to come.

Well, but again I'd say that there is no keeping them away from it. It's unavoidable. I don't think you can actually raise an anlog child anymore unless you live on a deserted island. I just have no worries that I am doing my kids any major disservice by limiting screentime at this age. It's coming. School will reinforce it, and peers, and so on.

FWIW, though, I also have no particular interest in steering my kids towards computer careers. I know some people think this is the only thing for kids now, that's the main way to make money, etc. If you were focused on that, I suppose I could imagine how you'd want to create as much computer literacy as possible.

A child doesn't have to be an IT professional to require computer skills. There are still some jobs out there that don't require the sophisticated use of technology... but what do they pay?

I spent way too much time in front of a computer growing up.

Way, way, way too much time.

Focus on my children's future salaries is not really my thing.

That said, they are going to have computer skills, of course. Like I said, it's unavoidable. And they're very smart. They'll pick it up as soon as it's made available.

I didn't have my own computer till the age of 23 and I have never had any problems picking up the computer skills I need, though I don't work in IT or anything like it. Same with my husband, and he's effortlessly picked up things like GIS and SPSS. But am I starting them programming at age 4? No. I suppose some people could see this as a failing on my part. Enh.

I don't disallow computer use, anyway. But I limit it, and I certainly don't actively suggest it. Pushing computer literacy for these kids just seems utterly unnecessary. IMO, they'll be in front of screens all day soon enough.

Well, for patent law, you generally only require the following tools:

1) A word processor
2) A fax machine
3) A telephone
4) A technical illustrator
5) The U.S. Postal Service
6) An inventor

Nor is it mine... but neither is limiting her future options. I see my job as a parent as providing her with an opportunity to develop a rich set of skills, then standing by and watching what she does with them.



I don't see much value in using my experiences with technology as a benchmark for my child. She'll be an adult in 11 years, and in the last 11 years, the field has changed dramatically. I see no reason for that rate of change to decelerate in the next 11 years.

My DD7 did a writing project on her computer, which is a decision she made herself. But since her school experience is such a mess (she's in 1st grade, ready for 2nd grade, and jumped into a G/T class full of G/T 3rd graders) she needed a lot of assistance and some heavy editing. She was angry/frustrated/overwhelmed by the assignment enough as it is... it would have been 10x worse if she'd had to do all those revisions by hand.



I don't think anyone has to push computer literacy on children these days, especially gifted ones. I think that computer illiteracy can be pushed, though. Restricting screen time is fine if it's necessary... as I said, in my DD's case, we don't restrict simply because she's self-regulating pretty well. If her behavior were different, our policy would be different. But there's restrictive and then there's prohibitive.

If I understand correctly, a patent attorney requires a degree in the STEM field relevant to the individual patent, because they need to understand the invention. Here's where the patents are going: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/cbcby.htm

Notice how particularly active the 700 series is, which all have to do with information systems, compared to the rest of the categories. Information technology advances are also embedded in a lot of the other patent categories, ex: surgery, internal combustion engines, photography, telecommunications, etc.

You just need enough STEM classes to be allowed to take the USPTO test. Generally, the inventor explains the invention to you. So, yes, a person with chemistry credits can be drafting that information tech patent.

There was a ginormous backlog at the USPTO after the dot-com adventure.

But the real money is in patent litigation, where your goal is often to confuse the jury.

Exactly. When it is time will pick it up pretty much instantly. It isn't like it is at all difficult. Here we went from zero to computer programming pretty much overnight.