Raising Geeks by Geeks

Just found this article while screening my tweets and it made me think some.  Mostly on how I can raise my kids to think more like an entrepreneur, aka outside of the box.  I know my children are Three(3) and One(1) but I don’t think it is too early to start.

Now is actually the best time.  Take for example, legos, there is more than one way you can put them together and there is more than one thing you can build with them.  You are stuck within the parameters that they fit together top to bottom, but there is really nothing else preventing you from doing what you want.  So, by letting my children play with legos, it gives them the ability to work not only on their creativity, but essentially they could build something else other than what the instructions provide.

Now don’t misunderstand me, Legos is not the almighty sword that will drive entrepreneurship into my kids but it is a good example.  From this example, I can keep in mind that I should give my kids options and let them come up with solutions on their own.  As they get older, I can allow them to come up with ways to make money, whether it is from my wife and I or from a business idea they have.  It all comes down to the foundation I can start to build for them now.

Other than the options I can provide for them, there is the knowledge that I can share with them.  Children in this age will be more computer savvy than in my age (I didn’t get my first computer till I was in High School).  And I can remember my Calculus Professor saying he didn’t take Calculus till graduate school, and now high school students are taking it.  I can supplement their education with information they are not getting, like how to run a business or the stock market.

In the end, having the options and extended knowledge will show my children to think outside of the box and become entrepreneur minded thinkers.

My children like to congregate around my wife and I, and we are usually sitting around our Kotatsu table.  We usually eat here, watch TV here, play games here, and pound away at our keyboards here.  So we have decided to get them their own table so that they can do anything they like there.  It seemed like a good idea.  We would let them write on it, beat it up, put their favorite stickers on it, and eat there if they like.  What we didn’t think about was that they would want us to come there.

Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t get the table because the kids are annoying us, we did it to drive them to be more creative.   Geeks need more creativity in their lives.  But instead it turned out that the magnetism in the room has changed.  Once it was at the main kotatsu…now it is at the Kid’s kotatsu.

The table, I am sure, will be put to good use.  My daughter is really into singing and dancing now.  I am sure she will be on top of it in no time.  My son will probably try to flip it over, just like he does with everything else.  When he attempts this, the table will probably hit him in his head or vice versa.  As new activites emerge from this simple table, I will be posting photos and videos.  I am sure they will be amusing.

When my wife and I are looking for toys for our children, we attempt to focus on those toys that we think will assist in building their logical and creative thinking.  Our all time favorite has to be Legos.  Both of us grew up on them and my wife still has all of her sets that she used when she was a child.

So, we have quite a few sets of Duplo, because our children are 3 and 1.  And my daughter is happy to play with them while my son is just getting to the point where he can put two pieces together.  The thing with legos, you can build just about anything.  I like to build spaceships and my daughter likes to build animals, especially giraffes and aligators.  I think those animals are in some of the new books she is being read to now.

After all of the time we spend picking out toys, you would be amazed with what children will play with.  For example, my daughter recently has been playing with the clothes pins….yeah we hang our clothes outside in Japan (an eco thing).  She will clip them together and build those things she is interested at the time.  It is amazing to watch her take toys or household goods, like clothespins, and make things out of them.  Can’t beat the creativity in that.

So my point in this article is to not overlook those simple things, because when put together with other simple things can make something very complex.