6 Amazing Reasons Why Your Kid Should Learn to Code Early On

Why should kids learn to code?

There are countless reasons for your youngsters to learn coding.

From fostering critical-thinking skills to enhancing their creativity and storytelling abilities, and even to growing resilience. Yes, there are seemingly endless benefits for children to know coding.

(And we haven’t even mentioned the juicy future career opportunities lying right ahead on the horizon).

So if teaching your kids how to code has been on your mind, this article is perfect for you.

Keep reading to learn 6 important reasons why every kid should learn to code in 2022.

Let’s start with the basics.

At TieTalent, we are big advocates of encouraging people of every age to learn programming languages and to ultimately increase their tech skills, pronto. To help you get started, we’ve written an entire guide explaining the 101 of coding for beginners (in case you find yourself totally lost).

Put simply, coding is a method of, well, ‘’talking’’ with a computer (coding is nothing more than a language that computers can understand so you give it instructions to perform certain functions). Knowing how to code will give you unforeseen creative digital freedom. You’ll be able to have full control over computer software, websites, apps, and even video games.

There are numerous types of different codes (called programming languages, which we’ve already covered in our blog. Deciding which programming language you should learn will depend on what you want to develop.

It’s never too early (or too late, for that matter), to learn how to code. And teaching your kids how to code is something that could be done as early as preschool.

This means that kids as young as 5 can already start learning basic computer language concepts. Heck, let’s further lower this entry barrier: even kids who don’t know how to read yet can learn how to code with block-based coding lessons. With so many free and paid courses available online, there are really no more excuses.

So, have you been considering encouraging your kids to learn how to code, as of lately?

We like the way you think!

As you’ll see in this article, the benefits for children to know how to code are, well, almost endless. And you don’t necessarily need to wait until your children run off to college to encourage them to learn valuable programming languages.

Actually, you can start right away!

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive into the reasons why it’s important for kids to learn to code!

1. Boosts Problem-Solving Skills

Mastering the art of comprehending how computers function will expand your child’s mind into appreciating how other things around them work. It’ll make Math seem like challenging fun, rather than a demanding burden.

That’s because young software engineers learn to use Math to solve hands-on problems in logical and creative manners. Learning how to code while very young will develop your child’s problem-solving skills for life.

2. Encourages Persistence and Resilience

Geeks, unite! Gone are the days when the word resilience was seemingly only associated with athletes.

And by teaching your kid how to code you’ll also be educating them on the important mindset of how to bounce back after failure. Your kids will learn that failure isn’t always a bad thing.

But how will coding teach your kids about failure and resilience, you might be wondering?

That’s because coding will give children the ability to try (and repeat) until they succeed in producing the outcome they were hoping for.

3. Enhances Your Kids’ Creativity

Hoping to bring out your kids' inner Picasso?

Surprisingly enough, coding can allow your children’s creativity to shine. It’ll teach kids to experiment and give them the confidence to step out of their comfort zone by giving them the ability to design something that is entirely their own.

Think about it: children thrive out of grown-ups' approval of something they’ve done. And, just as learning a new language, or how to play an instrument, children need motivation.

Seeing tangible results along the way is a fantastic way to cultivate their desire to produce more.

4. Helps Teach Digital Literacy

"Digital literacy" refers to a person’s ability to understand and engage with technology in a thoughtful, meaningful way. Some topics that fall under digital literacy are:

• Internet safety
• Cyberbullying
• Digital footprints
• Online ethics

As a hands-on example, children who are ‘digitally-literate’ can proactively research topics online, find relevant information, and then think critically about the sources they’ve identified. From there, they can formulate their own opinion and, if one is needed, a response.

In the words of Annette Vee, author of Coding Literacy: How Computer Programming is Changing Writing: “If you don’t know how to program, you can carry on perfectly fine with life. But this is soon going to change.”

Reading this makes it more clear that ambitious parents should aim to stay ahead of the curve by teaching their kids how to code early on in life.

5. Serves as a Career-Building Skill

Looking into how fast our world is developing, with your future Metaverse home address just around the corner, coding is an extremely useful skill to possess.

A child who learns how to code will have a great advantage in life (ahem, more employment opportunities, regardless of the industry they want to be in, be it in the technology sector, finance, retail, health, or any other).

Research conducted by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills stated that almost half of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs are hard to fill.

Not only that, but if to you robots at first seemed like reality from a Terminator movie, there are far too real ongoing concerns that AI are set to phase out certain job roles over the next 10 years. This is to say, there has never been a better time for your child to learn to code.

6. Improves Confidence and Communication Skills

Knowing how to properly communicate is one of those essential skills in life that are sure to help anyone throughout school, work, and even relationships. People who know how to clearly communicate complex ideas in simple terms tend to be successful in different industries.

As previously mentioned, computer coding will teach your kids how to break down complex ideas to arrange them in a way that computers can understand.

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And if you're a coder yourself and ready to make your next career move, TieTalent can help you find your dream job in Germany and Switzerland. Find out how.