Typing the holiday away

School holidays had started for Pangzi but I still had to work from home in this coronavirus lockdown. There had to be some way to keep him occupied.

“Don’t worry about me, daddy. I can watch Youtube all day,” he said. How thoughtful.

“But you’ll still be disturbing me, especially when the videos you like to see are those from noisy gamers,” I reasoned.

“They are not noisy. They are millionaires! I want to be like them one day!”

“People like Mr Beast have useful skills. They are good with cameras. They are excellent with words. You? You can’t even type properly.”

That was when the idea struck me.

“Tell you what. You have exactly a month to learn typing 60 words per minute. Then you can write a script, write an autobiography, write whatever.”

“But daddy, how do I learn to type so fast?”

“Easy. Just go to typing.com. They’ll teach you the proper way to type,” I revealed.

“You mean there are teachers on typing.com? I’m sick of Zoom classes already,” Pangzi said hesitantly.

“There are systematic online lessons to teach you the correct fingering and improve your typing speed.”

“How much would you be paying for my lessons?”

“Nothing. You just sign up for a free account to track your progress.”

“Sounds good. But daddy, why do I have to type fast?”

“You think it’s easy to be a Youtuber? You have to produce new content for your fans every day. If you don’t type fast, how are you going to catch up?” I reasoned. It was so simple to trick him.

So Pangzi started on a typing course that got him to only 30 words per minute after a few days.

“Daddy, it’s so hard. I’m getting finger cramps. Think I’ll never achieve the target,” he said, dejected.

School was still a long way out. I couldn’t let him stop here. “Have you tried the typing games on the website? Those can help you stay on course.”

Indeed, there were a number of online games that combined learning with fun.

Pangzi soon got addicted. More importantly, he left me alone most of the time while he was trying to break records.

His favourite typing game involved racing with other online learners. The faster he typed, the further his racing car went!

Wish I had this when I was his age.

By the end of the first week, Pangzi was already clocking 45 words per minute.

“Daddy, you know what? When school reopens I’ll be the fastest typer in class. Then I’ll finish all the homework in record time!”

Great. But that’s not really the intention.

We were here:

(Anywhere with Internet connection)