laziness, impatience, and hubris | |
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It doesn't matter one whit what the boy could "be great at". A young man looking out toward the horizon and plotting the course of his life should be seeking inspiration, not proficiency. (And if he's not even looking, then he should just be booted out into the big mean world and none of the rest of what I'm about to say matters.) The decisions your stepson makes today are almost certain to be revisited right around the time the kid reaches the end of his fourth decade of life, and at that point those grandchildren that you haven't even thought of yet are going to be affected -- in what way and to what degree depends upon the correctness of today's decisions. Since you don't live behind the boy's eyes, and will never be privy to his secret thoughts and feelings, the best thing you can do today is to help him to seek his joy. Help him search but don't tell him whether or not he's found anything. He'll know it when it happens. "... staying on top of his progress this time, and making sure he understands each week's work" is probably not an effective or even applicable solution to any problems he's having. If at the age of 18 he lacks responsibility enough to ask questions when he doesn't understand something, or lacks perseverence enough to stay with a task until it's done, babying him will do far more harm than good. If he won't ask for help when he needs it, or would rather run away from a problem than solve it, he should fail now while the cost is still low. Failure teaches us far more than success can. The longer you put off that lesson, the more it will cost. FWIW: In about eight more years I'll be helping a young man make that same transition to responsible adulthood -- but this time around it'll be my oldest grandson. :-) In reply to Re: How do I get my teenager interested in software development?
by gloryhack
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