Your Kids Should Learn Markdown | Jakov Filip Sabolicek

Your kids can probably navigate TikTok blindfolded. They can build entire worlds in Minecraft and speedrun games you’ve never heard of. But can they format a document without clicking 47 toolbar buttons?

Markdown is a life skill disguised as a text format. It takes 15 minutes to learn, works everywhere that matters, and will outlive every app they’re currently using.

What Is Markdown?

Markdown is a way to format text using simple symbols. Instead of clicking buttons, you type characters that become formatting.

What You Type	What You Get
`bold`	bold
`italic`	italic
`# Heading`	Large heading
`- item`	Bullet point
`[link](url)`	Clickable link
`code`	Inline code

That’s 80% of what anyone needs. A child can learn this in one sitting.

The 5-Minute Markdown Tutorial

Text Formatting

**This is bold**
*This is italic*
***This is bold and italic***
~~This is strikethrough~~

Headings

# Main Title
## Section
### Subsection

Lists

- Bullet one
- Bullet two
  - Nested bullet

1. Numbered item
2. Another item

Links and Images

[Click here](https://example.com)
![Alt text](image.png)

Code

Inline `code` looks like this.

```python
# Code blocks preserve formatting
print("Hello, World!")
```

Quotes and Dividers

> This is a blockquote.
> Great for highlighting text.

---
This creates a horizontal line above.

Tables

| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|----------|----------|
| Data     | More data |

That’s it. Everything else is a variation of these patterns.

Why Markdown Matters

1. Plain Text Is Forever

Every proprietary format eventually dies. WordPerfect files from the 90s? Good luck opening those. Google Docs if Google shuts down? Hope you exported.

Markdown is plain text. A .md file is just characters in a file. It can be opened by:

Any text editor on any operating system
Notepad from 1995
VS Code in 2026
Whatever we’re using in 2050

Format	Depends On
Google Docs	Google existing
Notion	Notion existing
Word	Microsoft licensing
Markdown	Text editors existing

Your notes, your writing, your knowledge -stored in a format that will never become obsolete.

2. It’s Everywhere Now

Markdown isn’t niche. It’s the default formatting language across platforms your kids already use or will use:

Platform	Markdown Support
GitHub	Full support (issues, PRs, READMEs)
Reddit	Native formatting
Discord	Chat formatting
Slack	Message formatting
Notion	Native support
Obsidian	Core format
Stack Overflow	Questions and answers
Jupyter Notebooks	Documentation cells
Most CMSs	Content authoring

Learning Markdown once means knowing how to format text everywhere.

3. It’s a Professional Asset

In technical fields, Markdown literacy is assumed. Job postings don’t list it because it’s table stakes -like knowing how to send an email.

Where professionals use Markdown daily:

Software documentation
Technical writing
Project READMEs
Internal wikis
API documentation
Research notes
Blog posts (like this one)

A kid who learns Markdown at 12 has a skill they’ll use for the rest of their career. One afternoon of learning, decades of utility.

4. AI Speaks Markdown

This is the emerging advantage most people haven’t noticed yet.

AI models are trained on Markdown. When you communicate with ChatGPT, Claude, or any LLM, Markdown is the native formatting language. AI outputs Markdown. AI parses Markdown better than any other format.

# Prompt to AI
- Use bullet points for clarity
- Structure with headings
- Include code blocks when relevant

Kids who think in Markdown can:

Write better prompts
Get more structured AI responses
Format AI outputs cleanly
Build AI-enhanced workflows

As AI becomes integral to knowledge work, Markdown fluency becomes a multiplier.

5. Easy to Learn, Hard to Forget

Unlike complex software with hidden menus and changing interfaces, Markdown is:

Stable - The syntax hasn’t changed since 2004
Minimal - 10 symbols cover 95% of use cases
Visible - You see exactly what you’re doing
Transferable - Same syntax everywhere

A kid can learn the basics in 15 minutes and master it within a week of regular use. Compare that to learning a new version of Word every few years.

The Case for Obsidian Over Notion

When kids need a note-taking system for school, the default recommendation is often Notion. It’s slick, it’s collaborative, it’s what everyone uses.

Notion is training wheels that become a cage.

The Comparison

Factor	Notion	Obsidian
Portability	Locked in their system	Plain markdown files on your computer
Speed	Requires internet, can lag	Instant, offline-first
Ownership	Notion owns your data	You own your files
Focus	Endless features to fiddle with	Writing-focused by default
Longevity	Dependent on company survival	Files exist forever
Cost	Free tier limits, then subscription	Free forever

Portability

Notion exports are messy. Try exporting a Notion workspace and opening it somewhere else -it’s a nightmare of nested folders and broken links.

Obsidian is just a folder of markdown files. Your notes work in:

Any text editor
Any other markdown app
Version control (git)
Future tools that don’t exist yet

If Obsidian disappears tomorrow, your notes are still perfectly usable.

Speed

Notion requires internet. Every action is a round-trip to their servers. Open a page? Network request. Search your notes? Network request.

Obsidian runs locally. Files open instantly. Search is milliseconds. No loading spinners. No “reconnecting” messages.

For a student taking notes in class, speed isn’t convenience -it’s the difference between capturing a thought and losing it.

Ownership

With Notion, your notes live on their servers. You’re renting space in their system. Their terms of service govern your content. Their pricing changes affect your access.

With Obsidian, your notes are files on your computer. Back them up however you want. Sync them however you want. No account required. No terms to accept for your own thoughts.

Focus

Notion’s feature richness is a trap. Databases, relations, templates, embeds, toggles, callouts -endless customization that feels productive but isn’t.

Obsidian starts minimal. A folder. Markdown files. Links between them. The focus is on writing and thinking, not on building elaborate systems.

Students should be learning content, not learning a tool.

How to Start

For Parents

Show, don’t lecture. Open a text editor, write some Markdown, show the output.
Connect it to their world. “This is how you format Discord messages.”
Start with one use case. School notes, a journal, game documentation.
Let them own it. Their files, their system, their responsibility.

For Kids

Install Obsidian (free): obsidian.md
Create a vault (just a folder)
Write your first note using the syntax above
Link notes together with [[note name]]
Watch your knowledge graph grow

Practice Projects

Project	Skills Practiced
School notes	Headings, lists, links
Book summaries	Quotes, structure
Game guides	Tables, code blocks
Personal journal	Daily formatting practice
Recipe collection	Lists, measurements

The Long Game

Digital literacy isn’t about knowing today’s apps. It’s about understanding patterns that transfer across tools and decades.

Markdown is a pattern. Learn it once, use it everywhere, forever.

Your kids will change phones, operating systems, and note apps dozens of times. The specific tools don’t matter. What matters is:

Thinking in structured text
Owning their data
Using formats that last
Communicating clearly with humans and AI

Markdown teaches all of this. In 15 minutes.

Conclusion

Markdown isn’t a technical skill -it’s a literacy skill for the digital age.

Learn once - 15 minutes to basics, a week to fluency
Use everywhere - GitHub, Discord, Slack, Notion, Obsidian, AI
Own forever - Plain text files that outlive any platform
Communicate better - With humans and AI alike

The best time to learn Markdown was 10 years ago. The second best time is now.

Teach your kids. They’ll thank you in a decade when their notes from middle school still open perfectly -while their friends are trying to recover data from a defunct app.

Plain text is forever. Everything else is temporary.