As a parent, the future of your child or children is always something at the back of your mind. You, as a parent, want to give your child the best education so your child can have a bright future. While coding may be a niche job for many parents, it has come a long way from the early 2000s and 2010s. Coding isn’t the job of the I.T guy in your office anymore. Coding is now part of our everyday life.
We interact with codes when we do our online shopping, pay with our debit/credit cards, order takeaways, or an Uber. Coding is now a universal language we all make use of daily. So today, we look at some reasons you should invest in your child’s coding journey.
Language of the Present and Future
In today’s world, technology is a part of our daily lives and will only become more integrated into our lives as the years pass. One thing that you don’t want is for this technological age to leave your child behind. Coding lets them learn the language of the decade and century to come. Just like how you (the parent) learned how to read, write and solve basic arithmetic – allowing your child to learn how to code is setting your child up for a bright future.
Your child doesn’t just grow up using the technology but understands the fundamental of the technology. Of course, not all of us who learned how to read, write and solve mathematical problems went into careers requiring expert-level knowledge of these skills. But we knew enough to get us by in our modern society. Coding is the now and the future and therefore is a wise investment to make in your child.
Improves Critical Thinking
It isn’t a secret coding helps children’s cognitive ability, as shown in a study published in Computers in Behavioural Science journal and many similar studies. Critical thinking means the ability to analyze, interpret and explain information while being open-minded. The ability to judge rationally and make effective decisions is an ability a child needs to learn while growing up. Learning to code helps to stimulate parts of the brain that aid the process. Critical thinking also helps with problem-solving.
Problem-solving is the ability to take a complex situation, analyze it and break it into small pieces before solving it. Coding can teach a child how to do this, as critical thinking improves problem-solving skills.
There are coding games that help promote a child’s thinking ability, and studies have shown children who learn to code from a young age do better in subjects that require them to do some critical thinking in school.
A High Demand and High Pay Skill
New job opportunities that require coding are opening up. Of late, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) industry has seen spikes in job opportunities. Studies show this increase will continue to rise in the future as we continue to rely on technology.
A high-demand skill is also a high-paying skill, with jobs like machine learning earning an average of $100,000 per year, a Natural language processor makes over $120,000, and a computational linguist can earn up to $90,000 a year. The average salary for computer and information-related jobs is $91,250 as of May 2020. Two times more than the average across other industries. A study by the U.S bureau of labor statistics shows the computer and information-related jobs will grow by 11 percent in the next ten years, while we expect STEM jobs to grow by 8%.
Statistics show they need system engineers, programmers, computer linguists, mathematicians, scientists, and many more people in these fields. Coding is the first step to most (if not all) of these professions.
It Helps to Explore Creativity
Creativity is one of the core pillars of coding. It demands the child to be creative when developing a program. Before a child can code, the child has to understand what he wants a program to perform. This approach brings the child to ask questions. One of the first signs of creativity is the ability to ask questions.
Asking questions is only the first step to being creative. The other is testing out your theories or answers. By testing out their theory, the child explores his creative mind by thinking of a solution. An advantage of coding as a child is that the child gets to experience the satisfaction of getting the answer right when the code works the way it should.
Such experience has a lasting effect on the child’s life. Learning to think out of the box for everyday life activities.
Coding Helps to Teach Resilience
Coding can be frustrating. It entails writing in a language, telling a program to perform specific tasks. It will involve a lot of back and forth, debugging and rewriting, and taking breaks to think about how best to solve the problem. A child learning how to code will experience setbacks and failures in their programs to a certain degree. Coding teaches them that failing is okay and a part of succeeding. They learn to bounce back from setbacks and learn how to take constructive criticism to improve their skills. These can help with also their mental health in the future as a study published in Behavioural Research and Therapy journal showed the inability of problem-solving skills lead to a mental breakdown.
Most methods used to teach young children and teens involve engaging them in fun games or activities, which they see as fun and not work. Learning in this environment can be a good way for them to build some reliance as kids. As we all know, this trait is crucial in life.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, investing in coding in your child is a wise decision. Coding has many benefits which various countries are exploring. Some countries now include coding as part of the school schedule or include it as a school activity.
Honestly, there are no known downsides to letting your child learn how to code. Aside from the financial benefit discussed in the article, there is the fact that we are in a technological age. Your child can learn life lessons by engaging in coding activities from a young age.
Exposing them to the basics of how the world now works is one of the best decisions you can make.
