So, I have four nephews, and the oldest one is 9. He and I were best of friends right from when he was born. I would spend hours with him every day. I moved out of town about 4 years ago, when he was 5, but I still visit as often as I can, and he's always asking when I'm going to visit. When I go to visit my family, he is dead-set on spending every moment with me the whole time I'm there.
I'm a bit of a bitcoin fanatic, so he's asked me about it occasionally, and today, I was talking to his mom (my sister) on facebook, and he asked if he could say hi (he's getting pretty good with a keyboard now). So after he says hi, he asks what I'm doing, and I was writing a facebook post about bitcoin, so I told him--and he asks, "what's bitcoin?"
So I had a great time trying to explain what it is and why it's important in a way that would hold a 9-year-old's attention and make sense to him.
After it seemed that he got the idea, I said, "I bought a bitcoin for $100 one time, and now it's worth $760. If I give you a little piece of a bitcoin, even if it's only worth a few dollars, if you hold onto it for long enough, it might be worth a lot more someday!"
He already has a savings account his mom set up for him which has just about $100 in it, which is his life savings (christmas card money etc) which he has been very responsible with. He's aware that it is his money and he can do as he chooses with it, but he has so far been saving it and hasn't taken any money out yet. He knows he could buy toys or video games with it but he so far has understood the importance of saving enough that he has had the willpower to leave his hundred dollars alone.
So I made him a gmail account, and gave him the username and password, then I called him on the phone and walked him through the process of opening a blockchain.info wallet. It took about half an hour. I sent him 0.01 BTC ($7.33 at the time of the transaction) and now my 9 year old nephew is holding bitcoin.
This makes him the first of my family members to take me up on my offer (I've told all of them if they open an account, I'll send them a few dollars worth of bitcoin). My dad has shown a lot of interest but so far hasn't sent me a receiving address. Nobody else in the family has even shown that level of interest.
Anyway, here's a couple pictures of my nephews, the oldest one is Colby, he's in the red shirt in the center on the first picture and he's on the left holding his newest little brother (just 3 weeks old, I still haven't met him yet!) in the second picture. Below I'll put his bitcoin receiving address just in case somebody wants to surprise him with a few bitcents. Any messages of encouragement posted here will be forwarded to him.
18eABNYAEdAk1e2TaGupgpk9NDGLHPuRBN <lost access to this address
(please note that this is not some elaborate attempt to get a couple bitcents, i just couldn't resist sharing his receiving address on the off chance that somebody surprises him with some coinage. The pictures are really my nephews, this address is really his, and this story is true. Hopefully it will inspire people to get their children into bitcoin. My facebook is facebook.com/henryromp and there are many photos of me with my nephews and my sister and mother on there).
