Keyboard and Mouse

My 6 year-old loves the Computer Science period. Maybe it’s the teacher, maybe it’s the chance to go to a lab… who knows? Anyways, I wondered how she’d learn to type or get familiar with the keyboard layout. It’s not like a kid that age has anything to type, so what’s the incentive to struggle and learn, I thought.

And then I saw this keyboard familiarization app called Tux Typing listed in her school book. I installed it on the laptop. As letters enclosed in fireballs dropped from the top, she had to find and hit those letters on the keyboard before the letter slammed into the buildings at the bottom of the screen. Fun way to familiarize oneself with the layout of a keyboard, I thought.

Soon she had mastered it. Like any good pushy parent, I then increased the speed at which the letters fell. Inevitably, she lost all her lives quickly. Then, instead of practicing to master the higher speed, this was her solution:

She: “You call out the letters as they fall. I’ll find and hit the letters.”

Me: “That’s cheating! You need to do both things yourself.”

She: “But it’s all your fault: you increased the speed. So now it’s only fair that you help me win.”

By hook or by crook. Winning is all that matters. A couple of other lessons learnt as part of this keyboard familiarization exercise!

The next time she we played, I switched to a different variant of the game where it rained down words related to space instead of random letters:

As I called out the letters, I decided to also tell her the meanings of the words:

            V-E-N-U-S, “Venus”, that’s a planet like earth.

D-U-S-T, “dust”, you know what that is.

U-R-A-N-U-S, “Uranus”, that’s another planet.

As she frantically tried to find the letters, she yelled like someone who’s drowning and barely able to stay above water:

“Don’t tell me the meanings. Just call out the letters. That’s what this game is all about… this is not the time to teach me things!”

Yes, m’am, I forgot that there’s a time and a place for everything.

Next I wondered how she’d learn to use the mouse. Thanks to Apple, touch is what she has known since toddlerhood. Besides, what does a kid even do with a mouse at this age?! Her school had the answer: they made them draw and colour stuff, for which the mouse is a must-use. At home, she said she wanted to do more of that. When I opened MS Paint, she declared:

“Yes, that’s correct. That’s the one they use at school.”

I’m glad madam approves, I mumbled.

When she knew the way to select colours and which icon to click to fill a shape she’d drawn, I was impressed. She rolled her eyes at me and said:

“What’s so great in knowing that? Do you think I go to school only to play? I also learn things…”

I’ll take the insult, kiddo, so long as you keep learning things at school.