Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

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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Full text from January 14, 2008 by Brad
Filed as: Encounters of the Mind

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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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Full text from December 28, 2007 by Brad
Filed as: Encounters of the Mind

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Smart Kids Play the Banjo

I caught a show this past weekend on the National Geographic channel that was documenting the ‘long tail’ kids, quasi-genius children on the far north side of the bell curve who display incredible abilities to perform at adult levels despite a very young age. The example in this particular episode was that of a young, eight-year old pianist who’s abilities to tickle the ivories seemed only limited by the small size of his hands. (At the time of filming, he was just at the point of playing a full octave, his hands stretching across — at their limit — eight keys of the piano. I can appreciate, despite being quite amateur on the piano myself, that an octave is a trivial task for an adult with average-sized paws, but a limiting factor smaller hands.) Admittedly, the parental pressure to perform seemed to be at times a little overbearing, but even a nagging mom can’t push an average kid to practice a musical instrument for four to six hours per day, as this young boy was inclined to do.

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Full text from December 3, 2007 by Brad
Filed as: Encounters of the Mind

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