Posts Tagged ‘science’
Bad Science, Experiments on Kids
Ben Goldacre published an update on some questionable experiments on kids in the UK.
Monday Meta: Literary Skepdad
A little more than a year ago when I started this blog there was such a clear purpose in my mind: fill the apparent gap in rational insight into being a dad that wasn’t awash with the stereotypical stuff. I mean, I looked around for all sorts of “fatherhood” information, a new baby on the way and all, and what I found was drenched in some kind of sports metaphor, psuedo-science drivel, end-of-life reconciliation with dear-old-pop stories, or pure religious holier-than-thou-isms. (Like you need to be a Christian to be a good father!) It wasn’t the point to just write about “skepticism and parenting.” But when I started piecing together the bits and pieces of what I thought I could meaningfully contribute the legacy of paternal experiences, I started thinking of — honestly — the father in the movie Contact. You know the one — Jodi Foster, SETI, message from Vega, based on a book by Carl Sagan — and you may or may not remember dear old dad, but he was the kind of soft spoken, knew the right answers to science-type-questions, let you tinker with ham radios kind of dad that every well-meaning science geek tells himself he’s going to be for his daughter.
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Friday Consumer Culture: Priddy Books
Fridays? Products, from one to five skeps.
We’d likely be kidding ourselves as parents if we thought all the stories we were reading to our very young kids were offering any more benefit than the sound of our voice and perhaps some loose vocabulary development. The girl is seven months old and I’m under no delusion that she is following the plot of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” or “Charlotte’s Web” as we read aloud from them on a nightly basis. But there is a ritual there and I’d like to think that my voice has something of a calming effect on her little mind. This raises the question as to the value of books in the life of a “Really Young Thinker” when books can really be no more than colourful toys to be grabbed and manipulated by equally young fingers. To help answer this, we were lucky to be given an interesting cloth book as a gift early on, and its only recently that the girl has taken to it with devoted fascination and often giggling delight — so much so that we bought another in the series.
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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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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 - There is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as truth if repeated often enough.- William James
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