Coding after school club (primary)

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DS spent a year or so on Scratch JR, anticipate the same with Scratch. Enjoys it, via MAMA Codes (has been great).

Can I ask how much coding is generally worth doing? Will obviously be guided by whether DS wants to keep doing it.

Thanks, have no idea as it is not something I did.

So he’s less than 11 years old.
How much coding is worth it is how much the child wants to go and do. I’m not really sure what you’re asking. At his age then it’s only not ‘worth’ it if he doesn’t enjoy it.

I'm also not sure exactly how to answer as I'm not sure I understand what you're asking.

I am a software developer. I enjoy it very much. It's a good job, good work life balance and well paid. I came into it later in life and wish I'd done it sooner and learned when I was younger but of course learning when you're 11 isn't necessary.

He's not going to become an Olympic coder so by worth it do you mean for securing a future career? Or a hobby that will help him more generally?

If he enjoys it he should go as far into it as he's happy to. If he continues to enjoy it then maybe he will make a career out of it. If not then it's still useful for helping him think logically and solve problems.

Thanks. He does enjoy it so will keep going for now. @codemonkeya the skills it brings (logical thinking, problem solving, etc.) have made me really impressed with coding.

Was discussing it with someone this evening and it was difficult to pin down, compared to swimming or football. Is there a point where you do enough coding so it is always possible to go back to?

Ds2 was in a coding club in primary, loved Scratch, took CS all the way through A level and aced out his NEA with full marks (computer game coding) and still codes for fun but is at uni studying a completely non-related subject. Ds1 did bare minimum coding in primary then loved CS in secondary, did it for his degree and is now a software engineer.

My advice is whether coding or football, just let them do what they love. Both my children are analytically minded and we used to play strategic board games too. They were both very good at that red stone stuff in Minecraft which were basically circuits. We bought them electrical sets and all sorts, anything that fed into their love of something. They didn't have formal weekly swimming lessons but we went swimming every week as a family, played basketball, tennis for fun and did do an organised sport for about 6 years.

Just support him doing what he loves. Probably far more likely to use those skills than become a premier footballer.