How I got my 5-year-old to brush her teeth and learn programming in the process

On average, Kiddo takes anywhere between 30 to 50 minutes to cover the 18 steps from the bed to the bathroom. There are a million distractions that amuse, engross and divert her before she picks up her toothbrush and completes the daily ritual. It is also, I suspect, the time of the day at when Wife or I experience a temporary spike in our blood pressure.

It was on one such morning, when the elevated blood pressure must have pumped some extra blood into my brain, that I spontaneously introduced Kiddo to the world of programming. I must point out (since Wife would be reading this) that no computers, laptops, smartphones, gadgets or animals were harmed in the process.

Why was I teaching programming to a five year old anyway

I wasn’t. But there were two main reasons why it happened anyway.

First, that I am a Mirambika dad — my daughter studies at Mirambika Free Progress School. Secondly, that I am a programmer. I write code that makes machines behave and act in a specific way.

I’m a Mirambika dad

Let me elaborate on the first point. If you’ve been at Mirambika for as long as I have, you’d know that nothing can be taught! It’s all about creating an experience where learning happens, almost as a by-product. In fact, the modus operandi is that kids are exposed to a fun activity that has a learning experience built into it.

Eventually, through repeatedly engaging in that activity, the kids discover the lesson and learning happens. Like how kids pick up language skills, they don’t even realise that they are learning. Most parents actively participate in this process as well, of teaching their children by creating these experiences.

I’m a programmer

Now several months ago, when Wife asked me what I could teach my Mirambika kids, I had emphatically stated that I’ll teach them how to program (the second reason). To this, Wife innocently inquired about how I would teach programming in an experiential way.

It’s difficult.

You see programming is writing specific instructions, that a machine can execute, to achieve a certain goal. You write “Print A” and the computer prints “A” on the screen. You ask a robot to “Pick Book” and all the levers and motors are instructed to turn and move and clasp and release and do all sorts of things! You press a button on your stereo, and it changes a channel.

It’s all programming, and it starts with defining the syntax. It starts with knowing the command. If the machine understands “Print” and you say “Write”, the machine wouldn’t work; the program would fail.

I did not wish to start with syntax! That would mean teaching comes before experience. That’s not the Mirambikan way!

Bed to brush in 60 seconds