Only Foreword
Creative Kids for March 2008
Why creativity? As I wrote in one of my first posts, I think there are “Three Eyes” to encouraging critical thought, and one of those is Imagination. And what I wrote then still holds true: Creative imagination is a double-edged sword for a skeptic; Imagination defines the ability to construct false realities as readily as it defines the ability to extend knowledge, seek answers, and forge new questions. But we need imagination. We need to understand the power and scope of this tool, to harness its potential for the right reasons and with the right momentum. As with any sword, the more apt one is with handling it the less likely one is to cause harm to oneself and others.
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skep/dad’s “free time” the first
I have gaps in my attendance here. And the fact that this is a parenting blog, such a statement should be fairly self explanatory. I’m a busy guy. I’m in demand (or so I’m told.) And I’ve got a little girl who yearns for my undivided attention. So here are some “free time” moments that I don’t have the “free time” (except on a lunch break) to flesh out much further at the moment.
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Leadership: Growth Minds Versus Static Minds
As election season abounds around me, I am thinking more about leadership than usual. Fast Company semi-recently published a book review (Mind-set: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck) in an article about leadership.[1] Though, I cannot speak for the book, the article seemed to have more to say on the subjects of intelligence and critical thought than on the subject at hand — which was, incidentally, how to be a good leader. This is not exactly a criticism. In fact, wouldn’t the world be a better place were leadership and intelligence not so often perceived as opposites. Rather, it was that the article was attempting to imply a connection between the perception of intelligence by individuals to their actions in leadership roles that I picked up on the topic for my own analysis.
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Kids and Television — Episode I: Huh?
Surfing the social intarweb I came upon a link to a cute little video of a three year old girl explaining the plot of Star Wars from her own perspective. As you can imagine it was something both completely predictable (as in you knew it was going to be a cute kid pulling random details from the story and over-simplifying) and entirely surprising (in that ‘kids say the darndest things’ — possibly, trademarked). Immediately a thought crossed my mind resembling something along the lines of ’sweet! I can’t wait until MY daughter can do that.’
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Avoiding the Rip Cord
As I write this I’m sitting on the floor of the living room in my pajamas struggling to find that internal parental peace that will prevent me from jumping in and rescuing my daughter from her struggles. She’s a few muscle-fibers short of being able to prop herself into a crawling position and in an effort to do so she is performing failed, faux push-ups and bemoaning the fact with an ongoing vocal tirade that is enough to drive me some sort of intervention. But in the name of all things ‘independence’ I resist, and so I’m distracting myself with a blog post.
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Toys for (Really) Young Scientists, Bug Jug
I think it would be fair to say that I have something of an askew fascination with insects. Having (unofficially) minored in entomology in university, I took every undergraduate course offered by the school filling the gaps in my schedule left whilst studying the arguably less critter-filled world of molecular genetics. Had I been gutsy enough to pursue the passion over the practical (a conversation for another day) I might today be writing a more scientific exploration of some rare lepidopteran mating habit instead of a sure-to-be overlooked fluff editorial on plush, bug-shaped children’s toys. But, alas, such is life. And being in the curious position of father, writer, and science-buff I thought it useful to put otherwise wasted talents to better gain and continue the mission of bringing critical thought to the next generation by looking at my own experiences locating toys for aspiring scientists.
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“Is reading aloud even optional?” Part 1
I’ve been trying to dig up some real research on the topic of reading aloud to kids, positive or negative. Other than a few vague correlational analysis there does not seem to be much scientific literature online about this either way. (Perhaps a reader could point me in the right direction. I thought I was adept at searching, but I’m stumped on this one.) Alas…
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I just wanna be…
… the dad who can lay back on the summer grass with his starry-eyed kid and not just answer her questions about the planets, galaxies, and random mysteries of quantum physics, but who can also inspire an persistent and probing curiosity about the universe in a young mind.
… the dad who knows why bugs have six legs and spiders have eight, and encourages his kids to come home with a jar full of crawlies so he can explain the local ecosystem and why we need to set the bugs free when we’re done.
… the dad who can build a mean snow fort.
… the dad who doesn’t buy his kids ’stuff’ to make-up, replace, or apologize for anything, but rather comes home with a sheath of paper and a rainbow of coloured pencils to spend a Saturday afternoon side-by-side laying on the living room floor tracing random shapes and abstract arts onto a hundred sheets of paper.
… the dad who avoids the easy-route of plugging in a head-rest DVD, and instead sings ridiculous songs in the car, negotiates the countryside with observational narratives, and carves away hours with dozens of meandering games that point out the colour of the passing vehicles or silly words extracted from the letters of license plates.
… the dad who knows the lyrics to all the crazy kid’s songs.
… the dad who can invent elaborate and entertaining fictions from the lives of his kids, mixing, blending, and extrapolating elements of their personalities and realities into playful narratives to be enjoyed under the safety of their blankets and explored as they drift off to sleep.
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To Shampoo or Not to Shampoo… ?
My wife was kind enough to point me towards a news article (appearing from various news sources) today about a supposed connection between baby care products such as shampoos, lotions, and powders and a common — though marginally studied — group of chemicals known as phthalates. I started scanning some of these alarmist-style news reports and immediately was struck by the typical “ohmygods the sky is falling” reaction of some — many — of the articles.
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An Imaginative Bonus Question
One would think that keeping a blog on the topics of critical thought, parenting, skepticism, and similarly related ideas is a difficult task — and one would be right. But, unexpectedly, when I set out to write here I was overwhelmed in a different way than I am now, having touched on a small handful of topics and researched twice again as many for future articles. The task is not difficult because there is a lack of subject matter. The task is difficult because there is far more to cover than I had ever anticipated. And I’ve been struggling not for lack of questions, but because I’ve been hesitant to ask the wrong ones.
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Gaming and Critical Thought (Proposal)
In my everyday life I have been finding overlap between fellow skeptics and folks who game. That is to say, the people I know in real life and online who I would consider ‘critical thinkers’ and scientists have a notable affinity for playing complex and unique board games, dice games, or card games. It is not a closed-set of people by any means, but it makes me wonder: What do games teach us about thought? Are games good models for teaching integrity to kids (one of skep/dad’s claimed core pillars of critical thinking) or is it mere correlation? Or what else could we deduce from this seeming connection — if it even exists?
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Gaming and Critical Thought (Survey)
I’ve started writing a series of posts about gaming and critical thought in kids. When I think of gaming — as I’m sure do many others — I think of cracking open a cardboard box and extracting a board, dice, cards, tokens, bits, pieces, and often a crisp sheet of rules. But I don’t want to limit my definition to that. A handful of dice, a deck of cards, or a pencil and paper can be the basis for the simplest game. And it goes from there to anything increasingly more complex than that…
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What is Skepticism?
If you have stumbled upon this blog from some random web search looking for (as the otherwise-anonymous statistics suggest) information on playing music to your baby in the womb, optical illusions for kids, or even (on rare instance) banjo lessons, you may be wondering what exactly you have found in this site. I’ve tried to explain my own interpretation of capital-S Skepticism in my own little About Page by writing: Defined, skepticism is a method of rigorous thought where one suspends judgment, systematically doubts, and thinks critically about new ideas before accepting them as truths. But others, far more seasoned than I, have elaborated and pontificated much more deeply than I on the topic.
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Future skep/dad Topics, Perhaps?
I’ve not had much time to sit down and write this week. Truth is, I scraped together some cash and bought myself a new notebook that has been occupying too much of my attention whilst I try out the many new features. That said, the plan in buying the new notebook was to give me more time and convenience in writing for this project (as well as a few others). Convenience? Well, it’s a notebook, so I can sit on the couch, put on some tunes, and type. Time? A rare commodity as a parent, but the new computer is, admittedly, a Mac so (as promised by the onslaught of advertising) its been running all weekend trouble free right out of the box. No more precious hours shared between changing diapers, reading aloud, and wireless connectivity maintenance. Of course, this gives me reason to pause and consider what I should write.
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Avoiding Logical Fallacies: Presuming Causation
The story so far: My pal, Victor Dillweed, has a time traveling baseball cap. He calls it his Chrono-Hat, and when he wears it he can travel backwards and forwards through time, visiting the far future and the ancient past. His visits are instantaneous, ephemeral, and he can only make a return journey if he comes back empty handed. Or so he claims. These rules, after all, leave him a little short on hard evidence. As usual, the skep/kids (Winston and Julia) and I attempt to debunk his claims — but this time around make the mistake of presuming causation.
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Talking Critical Thought
Some readers might be interested to know that a fellow skeptical father has recently set up a community discussion forum specifically devoted to topics that run parallel to the goals of this blog. A small handful of people have recently signed up. I think that as much as it is important to give readers the opportunity to comment and respond to things I write here, building a small community around an equal platform is a great idea, too. I’ll be checking in regularly to join discussions where able, and I hope more skeptical fathers sign up and help build a strong and balanced community.
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Thumbs Up for Pacifiers?
It seems to me that the role of a skeptical parent is often defined by a collection of little decisions that seem much more important than they really are. Case in point, my wife and I were very recently discussing the choice to be made between fostering a child who uses a pacifier versus a child who sucks her thumb. This is — in that ‘big picture’ — a seemingly minor topic, but one that has amounted to more than one conversation and a number of hours researching to decide on the ultimate course of action. Fools wisdom points with hearsay and warnings in either direction, but the skeptical parent knows to ask the right questions rather than jump to the easy conclusions.
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Defining Critical Thought: Take One
I’ve been doing a little thinking about thinking. One of the great things about taking a few minutes each day to write out my thoughts on these topics — or any topics for that matter — is that such introspection opens up all kinds of new avenues for exploration. Sometimes this kind of meandering pontification threatens to take me off course. On other occasions it sends me down twisting paths of inquiry that ultimately validate those selfsame efforts. And as pointless as this little soliloquy might seem at the moment, it is in fact leading a singular point. That point is both a very good question to be asked in a blog such as this one and also a question offering no universally accepted definition; What exactly is critical thought?
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Science Fair: The Plant Killer
In 2006 a website and email forward emerged online with the claims that the author’s grand-daughter had performed a science fair project comparing the effects two kinds of water on common house plants. The comparison made was between two kinds of boiled water; stove top and microwave. And the conclusions drawn claimed a notable difference in the observed outcomes; Water that had been boiled on the stove top (then cooled) allowed for normal plant growth, while water that had been boiled in the microwave (then cooled) killed the plants. Critical thought alarms went off around the world: Prove it!
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The Inevitable skep/dad Dichotomy
I’ve realized that my work on this blog can be neatly divided into two categories and I thought it might be useful to define those. Hopefully this will clear things up for new readers. So, if you are a new reader this post is a good post to read because it is going to talk about the difference between these two categories. I’ve simplified them as much as I could and have called them skeptical parenting versus raising critical thinkers — and they are not contradictory ideas. Rather, they compliment each other. And just a few months into this blog are very much at the core of what I’ve been trying to accomplish — and will continue to do.
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Avoiding Logical Fallacies:
Argument from Authority
The story so far: My pal, Victor Dillweed, has a time traveling baseball cap. He calls it his Chrono-Hat, and when he wears it he can travel backwards and forwards through time, visiting the far future and the ancient past. His visits are instantaneous, ephemeral, and he can only make a return journey if he comes back empty handed. Or so he claims. These rules, after all, leave him a little short on hard evidence. As usual, the skep/kids (Winston and Julia) and I attempt to debunk his claims — but this time around make the mistake of the Argument from Authority.
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Avoiding Logical Fallacies: ad hominem
The story so far: My pal, Victor Dillweed, has a time traveling baseball cap. He calls it his Chrono-Hat, and when he wears it he can travel backwards and forwards through time, visiting the far future and the ancient past. His visits are instantaneous, ephemeral, and he can only make a return journey if he comes back empty handed. Or so he claims. These rules, after all, leave him a little short on hard evidence. As usual, the skep/kids (Winston and Julia) and I attempt to debunk his claims — but this time around make the mistake of ad hominem.
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Wanna Write for skep/dad?
UPDATE, September 2008: After a number of months I’ve decided that I’m going to go this alone for a little while. There seems to be a growing community of skeptical parents out there who have started blogs in the last few months and if you are interested in writing I would encourage you to visit a site like Wordpress.com or Blogger.com and start writing. Let me know and I will gladly link to you.
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Over-Educated Toys
My daughter received numerous toys as presents for the holidays from friends and family. (Not from me. I bought her books.) I appreciate that — and I especially appreciate the care with which some of the toys were chosen. Despite being in the first year of her life, she is going to have an interesting time of growing up with so many people actively looking out for her education. But while some of the toys have obvious educational value — and by that I mean books, coloured blocks with shapes, numbers, and letters, and even the (most excellent) “bug bottle” a soft-sided container with a small collection of plush insects inside (actually meant to impress her entomology-enthused father) — some of the toys just try too hard.
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Home for the Holidays
With only a few days until Christmas my mind is aflutter with the nuances of balancing three things: (1) Appeasing an extended family who looks to their own deeply spiritual essence for the holidays, (2) keeping my daughter’s first “Visit from Santa” special, but still low-key and (3) my own skeptical need for some secular seasonal substitutes. For those veering away from superstition, the holidays can be a troubling time; For skeptics with family and kids, it is a heart-wrenching time of year altogether.
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THE SKEPDAD BLOG is a place for rational, science-minded fathers to express their thoughts, opinions, and ideas about bringing up kids to be critical thinking adults in a world filled with superstition, mysticism, and pseudoscience.
- MINIBLOG: Obama Trend - What does the election of Barack Obama mean for the course of science and science education in the US in the coming four years? How will this impact internationally? Discuss.
COMMENTS: Multiple. Add something! - MINIBLOG: Purity - We watched a documentary last night on TLC about the Purity Movement. Nothing like a good old fashioned biblical excuse to wrap one’s daughter in a bubble of ignorance and second class gender roles like a “sign this contract with your dad re: sex” to set society back a couple centuries. It’s as if they’re [...]
COMMENTS: None. First Post? - MINIBLOG: Brain Games - I’m researching. (Or that’s what I’m calling it.) I picked up one of those “intelligence” and “brain training” games for my PSP last week. How smart will I become thanks to this five dollar exercise? Look out world: I’m about to release unlimited potential of my hitherto confined mind. *sigh*
COMMENTS: Multiple. Add something! - MINIBLOG: Drinking Skeptically, October 22 - If you haven’t made plans to attend the Edmonton Skeptics’ Pub Night tonight, there’s still time. See you there.
COMMENTS: None. First Post? - TWITTER: skepdad thinks you should check out the second edition of the Skeptical Parent Crossing, Blog Carnival... >>
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- Another Skeptical Parent Crossing
- Wednesday Wild Card: Twin Troubles
- Obama Trend
- Purity
- Friday Fizzicle: Skepdad on Sex, Part 1 COMMENT: Hugo: The anti-gay bills may have passed but the anti abortion bills got shot down and while I sympathize with the GLBT community and would like to see a world where everyone is really... COMMENT: Brad: Yes, very sad about all the successful initiatives. I didn’t see much news coverage for that where I was watching. Telling? Still, a small step left trumps a small step right.... COMMENT: Ian: He may have won, but every anti-gay marriage/adoption bill passed (including California!), showing that the Right is still strong. Over 45% of Americans still voted for McCain/Palin.... COMMENT: Brad: You’re spot on with the first comment. Funny that. As for our own hang ups, I think that goes with a lot of what we’ve been taught about “touchy” subjects:... COMMENT: Jess: I think the quote “adolescents who say that their families understand them, pay attention to their concerns, and have fun with them are more likely to…” can be...
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Brad adds: As of October 2007, I'm soliciting interest for skeptics in the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada area who are interested in forming a skeptical society to contact me. Please do so through this blog or via Facebook (through the Edmonton Skeptical Society Group).
Or visit our new website: www.edmontonskeptics.org - What we need is not the will to believe but the will to find out.- Bertrand Russell
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