Posts Tagged ‘skeptical parenting’
Sunday Reading: The Kindergarchy
A little while back I stumbled on an editorial from The Weekly Standard* simply titled The Kindergarchy.[1] The article itself is lengthy and at times convincing of it’s own merits, and admittedly, it has taken me multiple readings and a few stretches of thought-filled time to figure out what I really think of the concept presented. At first, I wanted to post the item here and get input to rationalize what I thought came off as something of an attack on modern parenting — with a taste of “well, you know he might be right…”
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Skeptical Parent Crossing, Coming Soon
Blake over at the Domestic Father blog wants to let everyone know that he’s setting up a new blog carnival for skeptical parenting blogs.
This carnival is less about giving advice than it is about analyzing such advice. Less about making claims, more about evaluating them. As with skepticism in general, it is about learning how to think, not being told what to think.
Yours truly has already agreed to chalk up his name to both submit and — eventually — host the carnival when it gets going. But for now it’s just a question of putting together a good first article for the show. Any suggestions?
Wednesday Wild Card: Naked
Wednesdays? Anything goes, really.
If you have never added the “StumbleUpon” toolbar to your web browser (and as much as I don’t want to endorse something I’m not getting payback on!) it is a handy little tool for a kind of targeted randomized discovery on the web. Yesterday, for example, I set the toolbar to hit up parenting websites, and clicked through a dozen articles of various quality before I found one particular gem upon which it was worth commenting.[1] In particular, the article called “Potty-training in a Weekend” reminded me of a conversation I had back in February with some fellow parents who were still getting over the curious shock when they discovered their older siblings (in-law) were making use of the so-called “birthday suit method for toilet training:
“Some parents find that the fastest way to move past the diaper days is to set aside a few days devoted solely to potty-training. Some folks call it the birthday suit method, because it involves letting your little one run around with little or nothing on.”[1]
Sunday Reading: Freakonomics
Sundays? What Have I Been Reading About Parenting?
Don’t know how many of you skeptical parents out there have picked up a copy of the pop-sociology book, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Levitt and Dubner. It came out a few years ago. I ignored it previously, but stumbling across it again I spent the weekend picking through my own gratis version, and (as I kick off a slightly skewed variation on this experimental little blog) I thought I’d note to my tiny audience that therein contains an interesting (perhaps awkward) chapter or two between its covers leaning into the territory of skeptical parenting. I couldn’t help but cringe at some of the assertions being made based on (what seemed to my little eyes) highly subjective correlations in the authors’ data. And that said, it is a pop-reference book meant to appeal to a weekender audience. But the authors seem to spend a lot of text convincing us to be skeptical of broad assertions and suspect of researched analysis, then dropping bombshells of their own and expecting the reader to nod enthusiastically.
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Rituals, of a Kind.
We’ve tripped on the wires of reactionary parenting once or twice, but it is difficult to avoid those traps so delicately shaped in the vacancies left by our common sense. There is a gush of information that is unavoidable as a diligent parent. There is a sense of being overwhelmed by opinion and editorializing, the advice of helpful relations, and an incessant cluck of reasons filtering across the information fibers so thoroughly penetrating our home. It is enough to push a dad to a kind of parental anarchy, to rebel against the norms of expectations and creed, and deliberately fight the grain of mixed counsel so freely offered by countless voices.
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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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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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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 - A danger sign of the lapse from true skepticism in to dogmatism is an inability to respect those who disagree.- Leonard George
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- The Museum of Hoaxes
- James Randi Educational Foundation
- Skeptic’s Annotated Bible
- Terahertz
- The Meming of Life
- Skeptic’s Dictionary
- Skeptical Kids
- Science Based Medicine
- Snopes (Urban Legends Reference)
- DIYFather.com
- The Skeptics Guide to the Universe
- Pediatrics
- The Philosopher Dad
- Skeptical Surfer
- Junior Skeptic
- Bad Language
- NeuroLogica Blog
- SkepBitch
- The Skeptic Dad
- Podblack Blog
- Skeptical Mom
- The Blogfathers
- Domestic Father
- Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
- ScienceBlogs
- Memoirs of a Skepchick
- Antimattr
- Skeptical Family Forum
- Claire’s Booklist
- Skeptic Magazine
- Nye Labs
- Bad Science
- Science Creative Quarterly
- Bug Girl’s Blog
- A Secular Parenting Blog–Finally!
- Rational Moms
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