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Re: Defcon Kids in the news.
(this post turned me from a lurker to a poster... after 3 yrs :))
Background: I'm a father of a 2 yr old, who if she continues on her current personality trajectory will be a candidate for DefCon Kids when she hits the lower end of the age. She got her first defcon shirt before her first birthday.
I take her to the Pride Day parade every year, so it's probably reasonable to say that she's seen most of what happened at the AP from the stories I've read. (Naked same sex dancing is a bit tame for the local pride day parade).
So this background was a long winded way to get to the point. There are computer users and there are defcon participants. There are also parents and there are defcon parents. I think it's probably reasonable to assume that if we're bringing our kids to defcon we know enough to take responsibility for appropriately educating them. The "think of the children" crowd is not likely to be bringing their kids within 100 miles of "Sin City" never mind to defcon.
I do however understand that having my 8 yr old daughter going through the Con would make some of my fellow con goers uncomfortable, so if an option like defcon kids is available I will avail myself and my daughter of the option when that time comes (always assuming her personalty runs that way.) Otherwise I'll take her to the main con, just like I take her to Pride now. She asks questions and I provide her answers tuned to her current understanding of the world. I challenge her and she learns. I don't know any other way to teach. That's how I learned. Some crusty 50 yr old guy threw a stack of IBM PC 4.77 mhz pieces at me and told me he thought I might have what it took to run a Fidonet node, if I could figure out how to do it. I follow his example.
Anyways, thought I'd provide another parent's viewpoint.
Tyn
(this post turned me from a lurker to a poster... after 3 yrs :))
Background: I'm a father of a 2 yr old, who if she continues on her current personality trajectory will be a candidate for DefCon Kids when she hits the lower end of the age. She got her first defcon shirt before her first birthday.
I take her to the Pride Day parade every year, so it's probably reasonable to say that she's seen most of what happened at the AP from the stories I've read. (Naked same sex dancing is a bit tame for the local pride day parade).
So this background was a long winded way to get to the point. There are computer users and there are defcon participants. There are also parents and there are defcon parents. I think it's probably reasonable to assume that if we're bringing our kids to defcon we know enough to take responsibility for appropriately educating them. The "think of the children" crowd is not likely to be bringing their kids within 100 miles of "Sin City" never mind to defcon.
I do however understand that having my 8 yr old daughter going through the Con would make some of my fellow con goers uncomfortable, so if an option like defcon kids is available I will avail myself and my daughter of the option when that time comes (always assuming her personalty runs that way.) Otherwise I'll take her to the main con, just like I take her to Pride now. She asks questions and I provide her answers tuned to her current understanding of the world. I challenge her and she learns. I don't know any other way to teach. That's how I learned. Some crusty 50 yr old guy threw a stack of IBM PC 4.77 mhz pieces at me and told me he thought I might have what it took to run a Fidonet node, if I could figure out how to do it. I follow his example.
Anyways, thought I'd provide another parent's viewpoint.
Tyn
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