9 Year Old Webmaster

I had an amazing experience today. I received a phone call from a business associate of mine, and he told me his nephew needed some help with his web project. So I said, "Sure, why not? Come on over to my office this afternoon."

This kid turned up and he already knows more about html than I do. But he needed help to put a video together to go on his website design. He had until November of this year to turn in this project, and the marks he get will determine if he passes or fails this subject.

I was surprised to learn that the school actually had this subject and it counts in the school examination. I had to know his level of skill, so we chatted for a bit and, let me tell you, he asked some very good questions. Most of it was on the technical side, but his questions were more in depth than most adults I talk to.

Kids today are amazing. Imagine knowing how to put a website together at 9 years old. Like I said, he knows more about html than I do. But it's what you do with the knowledge that matters. So we spent 2 hours together, we went through how to put a video and audio together using Movie Maker. Than we worked on the layout of his website, and the navigation. This made the presentation more interesting, and the website look better. This isn't cheating, I just gave him some tips, and basic knowledge on how a website should look like. Something his teacher should have done but either did not or did not know how to.

I will be meeting with him to review his project next week. Hopefully he will have completed it, as he had already done the content and graphics. He just needed help to pull it together. And he got what I was saying, just like that! That was what is amazing. I'm going to help guide this kid. His mother said he wasn't sleeping well at night being too worried about this subject. It seems that there was no-one he could talk to for advice.

After hearing the comments his teacher said, I have to agree with my friend's opinion of the teacher. On the other hand, I'm not a teacher so I wouldn't know what is the norm in teaching a 9 year old. What I do know is, if he can handle it, I give him the tips. The way it looks, this is one future webmaster.