Blogger’s plan to make her kindergartner a tech prodigy.
SAN FRANCISCO: A few days back, I read a feel-good news story that triggered my worst instincts.
“Teenage entrepreneur Nick D’Aloisio sells mobile app Summly to Yahoo,” the headline declared. Yahoo reportedly settled the deal for around $30 million for the app that D’Aloisio created in his bedroom when he was only 15.
Summly works to summarize long-form articles so that readers can scroll through news content on their smartphones easily. D ’Aloisio’s teen-to-riches tale is inspiring and he merits his fortune, but it only filled me with envy, and resentment, and plunged my self-worth. I ‘m sure anyone on the wrong side of 30 is aware of this news, and struggled with the same emotions that I went through (to some degree), therefore, I shall not elaborate on that story, and risk this blog getting summlied.
Mulling over the news, and the fact that the money goes to a trust fund controlled by D’Aloisio’s parents. It dawned on me that this is, in fact, news I can use. This teen-to-riches story can be used to motivate my children into the path of teen tycoons and me in the path of early retirement.
Tech history shows us that the millionaire demographic is getting younger by the year. Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft at 19. Steve Jobs co-founded Apple at 21. Zuckerberg created Facebook and, Shawn Fanning released Napster at 19. Sadly, my teenager has missed the gravy boat already. In the next ten years, she will rake in a Master’s and hopefully a Doctorate, but not those elusive millions.
Now, my kindergartner can be given a head start. He is an ideal contender for a tech prodigy. He has the age advantage and his aptitude is inherent. He swiped the iPhone before he could string words into a sentence, and his first sight word was “Free app” (providential? I believe so).
With gentle nurturing of what nature has amply bestowed and a strategic overhaul of his educational methods, he may one day join the elite group of teenage millionaires.
Overlook cursive writing, improve his keyboard skills.
Take him out of “critters and clay” after school sessions and let him pander in iPad and iPhone emulators.
Foster his curiosity of discovering apps that make today’s life even simpler.
Less of Dr. Suess and Roald Dahl and more of GIzmodo and TechCrunch.
Practice sketching flow charts in art class, as an alternative to rainbows and fruit bowls.
Take part in algorithm bee year after year.
Train him to enunciate phrases like “3D rendering” and “product road maps” so it flows easily in his discourse.
Foreign language requirement in school can be met with learning C++,and COCOA.
Hone his tweeting skills; teach him to communicate in 140 characters or less.
Keep a lookout for quirky venture capitalists, who will believe in the ideas of 15-year olds.
Do not be alarmed if he slacks during schoolwork. D’Aloisio came up with the idea for the app, as he didn’t want to bury himself in volumes of history notes.
Honors physics maybe traded for AP programming.
Give him a trendy haircut, so he looks absolutely “adorkable” in photo sessions.
And finally, guilt trip him into spending the millions on me.
To contact the author, e-mail: zenobiakhaleel@americanbazaaronline.com
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