The fact that they&#x27;re stuck <i>might be part of the fun</i>. It&#x27;s usually easiest, and frankly less intimidating&#x2F;annoying, to follow a simple protocol:<p><pre><code>  1. Ask them if they have a second to chat (if no, leave them alone for a while).
  2. Ask them what they&#x27;re working on, and what they enjoy about it, and what is hard (if they don&#x27;t want to talk about it, leave them alone for a while).
  3. Ask them if they&#x27;d mind a suggestion about what they&#x27;re trying (if they don&#x27;t want a suggestion, leave them alone for a while). This may also be in the form of a leading question.
</code></pre>
It&#x27;s really not hard to do that without falling into one of those two categories. Just ask quietly and politely, and respect their space. This isn&#x27;t rocket science.<p>EDIT:<p>Also, some of my sibling commenters and even my parent comment have language that suggests some grumpiness over gender or feminism or whatever.<p>If you&#x27;re there to help with tech, <i>none of that matters</i>, so don&#x27;t bring it up. Just ignore it and focus on the tech--doing anything else is, by definition, being distracting.<p>Furthermore, complaining about it just makes you look silly.