Brief recap of stuff I've written before

Duchess went to the first in a series of five three-hour programming classes today. I signed her up at the suggestion of a parent of a friend of hers (Spruce, whom Duchess has known for seven years), who is also signed up for the class. Duchess really enjoyed the class; she said it was "awesome."

My goal for Duchess's extracurriculars have changed. I initially thought I'd sign my kids up for a range of activities so they could find a thing they loved to do. When it became clear that Duchess likes to do almost everything, I found myself casting around. for a reason to keep lining up activities for her. For this class, though, and also her after-school electronics class, I know exactly why I want her taking them. I want her to enter college (or at least middle school) feeling competent and confident in skills that open the doors for careers in tech. Playing with tech stuff is still the province of boys. Duchess is the only girl in the ten-kid electronics class, and she and Spruce are two of the three girls in the ten-kid programming class. It will take a lot of confidence to sign up for computer science classes in college, and I want her to have that.