Being the proud father that I am (of Benjamin, 23 months, and another due to arrive in May, who is known in the family as "Holly" for reasons we won't go into now), and being also a geek, I naturally wonder how I can teach my children about computers, IT, the internet, and all that stuff.
This isn't because I want to push them into becoming like me (heaven forbid!?), but because I want to teach them stuff I think is cool and because this particular cool stuff is going to be very handy stuff for them to know as they grow up.
As it happens, Benjamin doesn't need any encouragement to use a computer. In fact, anything with buttons holds a magnetic attraction for him.
A mouse which has buttons on top _and_ a light underneath is just too much to handle!
Keeping him away from a keyboard is just impossible. It's cute _some_ of the time, and intensely frustrating when I'm trying to actually use the PC.

"No, Daddy, you need to press _this_ button." ...Of course. How dull of me. Why didn't I think of pressing ESC in the middle of a download?

Well one of these years I'd like to get him into a little programming - not so he can grow up to be a programmer, but so he can understand computers (?and understand is father?) a bit better.

I'm thinking that the best way to go with this is LOGO, which has been out of mainstream fashion for a couple of decades, but I know teachers who still rave about it. I've even read (although I haven't been able to confirm this yet) that LOGO is part of the National Curriculum.

What do you, oh esteemed reader, think?
How can I teach my children about IT?
Is it ever too soon to learn programming? Or should Benjamin have written his first compiler before he goes to school?

Went to the dentist this morning (cracked a tooth on Sunday).
The tooth didn't hurt - it's just that there's a really sharp edge which catches my tongue, and felt like it was shredding it into tiny pieces. No matter; the marvellous Mr. Foy sorted it out with a temporary filling today. The bad news is that it will have to come out at some point in the fairly near future. Still, the pain has gone! (enabling me to see clearly now ;)

I have started meeting regularly with Richard and Duncan. We're working with alternate Mondays at the moment. Last night, Dunc was ill, so it was just me and Rich. I wasn't there at all. I'm feeling yuk cos I've cracked a tooth. I'm going to the dentist tomorrow to sort it out. I can see a crown in my future, but it's not a crown of spleandour!?

This year's birthday present arrived on Friday. 5 disk LOTR (Return of the King) DVD. The only bad news is that Sq wasn't in when it arrived, so the postman took it back to the depot. Usually they just leave it in the cupboard outside the front door, but perhaps he thought it was too valuable. Good point.

Lovingly, Sq went and picked it up on Saturday morning. We have now watched most of the film. :0) Much extra stuff (I think it must be up to 4 hours now!). I definitely feel that I need a video projector in order to truly appreciate this kind of thing. Ah me, poor age, the problems I have to deal with.