A new silly study out today suggests that babies born in late in summer and in the autumn are taller and stronger than children born in winter and spring. I know this is true as a northern hemispherian baby born in October, and I am very excited for Australia to peer review this study and find out that babies born in February to April in Australia are taller and stronger too.
That would be just lovely.
Also for people living in equatorial regions to find there is no difference in the hight of strength of their babies by month they were born...
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Children's lives "harder today"
According to a report just published by the something or other organization of non-sense writing in England, Children's lives are harder today than ever before. Nonsense!
On what do they base this claim, might I note here they are talking about British children exclusively, so we don't even get to touch with a ten foot pole poverty, starvation war or any of that stuff in making this assessment. The report claims that despite improvements in mortality rate, health care, education and having more possessions children's lives are more difficult that they were in the past. That children are less happy, and are less likely to grow into successful adults.
I think that may be the rub, that children are perhaps less likely to succeed these days makes us want to draw the conclusion that their lives must be more difficult. I don't understand how the 35,000 contributors to this report could be so dense. These contributors it seems have put a lot of energy into blaming failed marriages, single parents and materialism for these difficulties faced by our children. It claims that 1 in 3 children live apart from one birth parent by the age of 16.
I think this report has made an egregious error in concluding that decreased quantifiable by modern statistics successes is not necessarily correlated to increase difficulty. That in fact it may be quite the opposite that is true. That in fact children's lives are significantly less difficult than they have ever been to the detriment of their development. Every challenge and hardship has been removed from the path a child must walk to adulthood, even their autonomy in walking that path is constantly infringed on, they are given bikes so they don't have to walk, and rides and cars because they are told that even riding the bike is too difficult. They barely get to travel this path at all until they are finished legally becoming an adult and move away from their parents.
How can we learn if we don't experience failure, conflict, tribulation, confusion, discomfort and pain? I agree with Aristotle, that humans desire to know, we desire to learn as one of our primary and most fundamental desires, maybe even before we desire things or love or ham sandwiches. This is why before we know who anyone else is, we explore and test and try stuff. and it is stressful when we are thwarted in our pursuit of that desire. When we are trying to put a puzzle together and someone comes and does it for us, when we are testing out the effects of gravity and someone grabs our hand and carries us down off the jungle gym and yells at us. Good job you just ended the career of a would-be physicist.
We are stuck (as adults..which as we know are just tall-children holding a beer or something) in our fear of pain, our want to protect ourselves and others from experiencing it. It thwarts us, and causes us to thwart those around us. We are afraid our kids will cry, or break a bone, or loose and eye and be crippled, or even die. We are so afraid of that pain of that what if...
We must learn that it is okay to die. That crying is cleansing and learning. That bones heal and grow. That cripples (sorry for the blunt word if it offends you) are among the most able-bodied people you will ever meet. That they create amazing things, problems and solutions, philosophies and arts out of their "apparent" disadvantage. Some examples Beethoven (deaf), John Milton (blind, wrote Paradise Lost, The prophet Mohamed (illiterate), Carly (Autistic), Jason (Autistic), Brittany and Abigail (not crippled, but an amazing example of how children use challenges to thrive in life) and the list is unending. Adversity is one of life's greatest reasons to learn. And finally I am a firm believer that even what does kill us, makes us stronger. (earthquakes, accidents, old age, anger, war, crucifixion, marshmallows, grade 6, sit ups)
I keep meeting people who work with orphans or had some experience briefly with "underprivileged" children. And they always say things like, "you can't imagine how much light/ life/ vibrancy/ happiness/ curiosity/ intelligence/ resourcefulness blah blah blah is in these kids." I always asked, "why do you seem so surprised?" Of course I can imagine it, its when i meet kids how haven't even scrapped their knee and still have this aliveness that I am surprised. Kids who have never had to wonder if something bad could happen who can still learn how to build a soapbox racer.
Ken Robinson suggests that we are educated out of our imaginative capacities. That like Picasso said, all children are born artists, it is remaining an artist as you grow up that is the trick. I agree. you need to try, if you are to find a talent, and you need to practice if you are to succeed, but we are so afraid of failing, or of our kids failing that we give them learn to type games and Pokemon to entertain themselves until they are old enough to bugger off and get a job. Nonsense!
Children's lives are not harder today, they are more boring, less interesting, less challenging, less productive, less exploratory, less impossible. They are trapped by people with power who only know how to measure success quantitatively, but not qualitatively as it should be measured. And it is nonsense! Stop babysitting teachers! Stop babysitting parents. Stop babysitting children. Stop babysitting.
On what do they base this claim, might I note here they are talking about British children exclusively, so we don't even get to touch with a ten foot pole poverty, starvation war or any of that stuff in making this assessment. The report claims that despite improvements in mortality rate, health care, education and having more possessions children's lives are more difficult that they were in the past. That children are less happy, and are less likely to grow into successful adults.
I think that may be the rub, that children are perhaps less likely to succeed these days makes us want to draw the conclusion that their lives must be more difficult. I don't understand how the 35,000 contributors to this report could be so dense. These contributors it seems have put a lot of energy into blaming failed marriages, single parents and materialism for these difficulties faced by our children. It claims that 1 in 3 children live apart from one birth parent by the age of 16.
I think this report has made an egregious error in concluding that decreased quantifiable by modern statistics successes is not necessarily correlated to increase difficulty. That in fact it may be quite the opposite that is true. That in fact children's lives are significantly less difficult than they have ever been to the detriment of their development. Every challenge and hardship has been removed from the path a child must walk to adulthood, even their autonomy in walking that path is constantly infringed on, they are given bikes so they don't have to walk, and rides and cars because they are told that even riding the bike is too difficult. They barely get to travel this path at all until they are finished legally becoming an adult and move away from their parents.
How can we learn if we don't experience failure, conflict, tribulation, confusion, discomfort and pain? I agree with Aristotle, that humans desire to know, we desire to learn as one of our primary and most fundamental desires, maybe even before we desire things or love or ham sandwiches. This is why before we know who anyone else is, we explore and test and try stuff. and it is stressful when we are thwarted in our pursuit of that desire. When we are trying to put a puzzle together and someone comes and does it for us, when we are testing out the effects of gravity and someone grabs our hand and carries us down off the jungle gym and yells at us. Good job you just ended the career of a would-be physicist.
We are stuck (as adults..which as we know are just tall-children holding a beer or something) in our fear of pain, our want to protect ourselves and others from experiencing it. It thwarts us, and causes us to thwart those around us. We are afraid our kids will cry, or break a bone, or loose and eye and be crippled, or even die. We are so afraid of that pain of that what if...
We must learn that it is okay to die. That crying is cleansing and learning. That bones heal and grow. That cripples (sorry for the blunt word if it offends you) are among the most able-bodied people you will ever meet. That they create amazing things, problems and solutions, philosophies and arts out of their "apparent" disadvantage. Some examples Beethoven (deaf), John Milton (blind, wrote Paradise Lost, The prophet Mohamed (illiterate), Carly (Autistic), Jason (Autistic), Brittany and Abigail (not crippled, but an amazing example of how children use challenges to thrive in life) and the list is unending. Adversity is one of life's greatest reasons to learn. And finally I am a firm believer that even what does kill us, makes us stronger. (earthquakes, accidents, old age, anger, war, crucifixion, marshmallows, grade 6, sit ups)
I keep meeting people who work with orphans or had some experience briefly with "underprivileged" children. And they always say things like, "you can't imagine how much light/ life/ vibrancy/ happiness/ curiosity/ intelligence/ resourcefulness blah blah blah is in these kids." I always asked, "why do you seem so surprised?" Of course I can imagine it, its when i meet kids how haven't even scrapped their knee and still have this aliveness that I am surprised. Kids who have never had to wonder if something bad could happen who can still learn how to build a soapbox racer.
Ken Robinson suggests that we are educated out of our imaginative capacities. That like Picasso said, all children are born artists, it is remaining an artist as you grow up that is the trick. I agree. you need to try, if you are to find a talent, and you need to practice if you are to succeed, but we are so afraid of failing, or of our kids failing that we give them learn to type games and Pokemon to entertain themselves until they are old enough to bugger off and get a job. Nonsense!
Children's lives are not harder today, they are more boring, less interesting, less challenging, less productive, less exploratory, less impossible. They are trapped by people with power who only know how to measure success quantitatively, but not qualitatively as it should be measured. And it is nonsense! Stop babysitting teachers! Stop babysitting parents. Stop babysitting children. Stop babysitting.
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