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No Screen Coding Toy – MangoBot

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Today with the rapid advancement of technology, screens are everywhere and are used by younger and younger children. Research shows that early use of screens leads to speech delay and hinders socio-emotional development of young children.

Some parents may even believe that having kids play on the screen from early on would help make them smarter. WRONG. The most critical factors that support a child’s healthy cognitive and emotional development have to do with the presence and companionship of parents, or main care givers. They learn language by speaking and being responded to. They learn to manage their emotions by their experiences with warm and responsive adults. Nothing can replace the role of parents or main care givers in the early development of a child.

Instead of helping, screens tend to replace a child’s time to interact with adults and peers and time to experience relationships. Digital response on a screen could be so quick and exact that a child loses interest to wait for and process the real world’s sometimes slow and ambiguous responses.

I’m also a mother of a 33 month old. My first and foremost wish for MangoBot is to give my little one something he deserves. If by doing it MangoBot could also benefit other children, then why not.

If you are also a mother and are reading this, please do reach out (link to contact page) to me if you have any feedback or concerns. We hope to make MangoBot better together with you.

为什么懂得多了反而什么都不敢做了

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这两天一直在反思,好像我行动力最强的时期竟然是在高中。那时候什么都不懂得,不懂得系统地分析问题,不懂得研究商业模式,不懂得分析市场,不懂得人情、政治。只是看到了英语教育里缺失的口语培养,看到了同学们对于口语练习的需要与渴望,就创办了学校第一个学生自主创立及运行的小组织–“英语角”。不管刮风下雨、还是在高三最紧张的时候,我每天都会去。有时一个人也没来,我也一直等着,恐怕万一晚来的同学由于看到没人就失去了积极性。就那样坚持下来,竟然成了学校的一大特色,吸引和鼓励了众多后来的学弟学妹们。后来我上了很多学,读了很多书,懂得了一些系统思考问题的方法,学习了一些商业模式、市场分析的技巧,了解了更多人情事故为人处世的规则,反而发现自己变成瞻前顾后、过度分析、计划的行动力低下的人。了解我的人都知道,我说自己要创业说了很久,可是到现在也还在公司工作。每当我想到一个市场的痛点,就会想这个市场大不大、如何规模化、如何赚到钱,想来想去就落得连一个创业的想法都没有实施下去。并不是说创业之前想好市场潜力、想好商业模式有什么错,只是创业本身就不是一件按部就班、靠计划能够成功的事情。创业,比起计划,更靠行动力,比起分析,更靠热情,比起战略,更靠接地气。

都说创业需要勇气,我说创业不仅需要勇气,还需要把一件事情从无做到有,从小做到大的信心。这个信心是对自己的眼光的信心,对自己商业嗅觉的信心,是即使遭到投资者一遍又一遍的拒绝仍然相信自己想法的信心。太多的创业者低估了自己的想法的价值,包括比尔盖茨本人在内。比尔盖茨创办了微软之后又回到哈佛继续学习,当然他最终还是没上完学就回去微软,但是他当时决定回去哈佛也一定是没有想到微软会成为今天这样的公司。

信心是行动的源动力。如果你100%确定某一个地方有一大片金矿,那么你会变卖所有去买下那块地。很多时候缺乏行动力是缺乏信心的表现,而缺乏信心又是由很多原因造成的,上面说到的过度分析导致自我否定就是一个。而事实上你再分析也不可能100%确定一件还未发生的事,假如能确定70%,那剩下的30%就需要创业者适度的over-confidence(过度自信)来填补。适度的”over-confidence”对于创业者来说,不仅是健康有益的,而且还是必不可少的。如果等到你要100%确定一件事的时候再去行动,那么恐怕你永远也行动不了了。

写此文的目的一方面是想鼓励我自己,另一方面也想与处在类似处境的同仁们分享,共勉之。

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