To the parent and anyone else who hasn't experienced the wonders of `pip`, check out the article "Tools of the Modern Python Hacker: Virtualenv, Fabric and Pip" [1]. All three of these tools are invaluable for even the most trivial of Python projects, and make developing in Python much more enjoyable.
I just learned Python a week ago, and PIP was an important part of that.
For those of you who are just learning, PIP will automatically download, install, and then compile any python modules you point it at. Just make sure you have the module's recommended compilers installed first.
[1]: http://www.clemesha.org/blog/modern-python-hacker-tools-virt...