Comments on: Politics and parenting styles

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:15:08 +0000

Otherwise, if not, when, exactly, does he plan on teaching them to freakin’ THINK for THEMSELVES?!! To teach presupposes that you have already learned the material to an extent capable of transferring it to others.

By: Bill Smith

Bill Smith — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:45:01 +0000

Sorry, I haven’t read the previous comments, so….

So, Bookie. Hubby clearly thinks your kids are of the stupid, Palin gene pool. Otherwise, if not, when, exactly, does he plan on teaching them to freakin’ THINK for THEMSELVES?!!

Sooner than he can possibly imagine they will be running circles around him, and he won’t even know it half the time. I’ll bet they are even starting to figure this out for themselves.

By: Earl

Earl — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:09:37 +0000

Consistency is important….but no human being is completely consistent, so a parent mustn’t let the kids’ accusation of inconsistency cause a freeze-up.

I always explained things to the kids when there was time….but I was also extremely clear that obedience was not dependent on the child’s understanding/agreement with my point of view and the mandate I was giving.

Having said that, I tried to be open to reasonable compromises. When my son was close to three, I fed him supper every night. His mother insisted that he have vegetables, which he resisted. I whizzed mixed vegetables into a soup, and then used it to make “mashed potatoes”, slightly green with the vegetables. Once he ate the potatoes, he had what he really loved — “banana pudding”, which was/is a banana mashed up with peanut butter (he still eats this at 33, as do I at 62 – wonderful stuff). Anyhow, I clearly remember the night I told him that when he finished his potatoes he could have his banana pudding…..”Daddy! Daddy! I have a deal — I’ll have a bite of potatoes and then a bite of banana pudding.” My initial inclination was to insist he eat his potatoes before getting banana pudding….but I stopped and thought about it, first. Since the banana pudding was at least as good for him as the vegetable/potatoes, why not? So, that’s how we did it from then on – it worked perfectly, and without conflict. One of my goals!

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:22:24 +0000

If your son likes the military, Book, then he’ll definitely want to stay away from any gaming of the system or using the excuse that others are bad, so this allows personal bad standards as well. This doesn’t really lead to a invigorating career in the military.

By: suek

suek — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:21:21 +0000

>>Back in the day, this was called might makes right.>>

Working with animals, this is called “crazy making behavior”. When you are completely inconsistent with your rewards and punishments, the animal eventually “freezes”. It doesn’t know whether it’s going to get a carrot or a kick, so it refuses to do anything. From what Book is saying, the punishments sound like they’re not severe enough to result in this kind of reaction, but inconsistent results mean the kid definitely weighs the probabilities. And _never_ underestimate the ability of kids to manipulate. And as a by the way… I’d be willing to bet they can manipulate Dad better than Mom. And that they know it.

By: Bookworm Room » Politics and parenting, Part II

Bookworm Room » Politics and parenting, Part II — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:08:44 +0000

[...] find it amusing that, one day after my long rumination about the different parenting styles my liberal husband and I have, with both our styles accurately reflecting our politics, the blogosphere is awash in stories about [...]

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:26:28 +0000

They won’t help out much around the house, citing their dad as an example. I hated that constant fight, so I told them

So they use the lack of ethical and stable rules as an excuse for laziness, or self-appeasement of short term desires. Instead of putting their energy to learn through adversity, they know they can get success through gaming the system.

If you weren’t there, Book, they’d be learning a very bad habit that they might never deprogram themselves out of.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:23:53 +0000

The problem is that there’s a random quality to all this. Sometimes he lets things pass, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes the punishment is harsh, sometimes it’s not. Even if they know they’re violating one of his shibboleths, the kids gamble that they’ll escape serious punishment.

Back in the day, this was called might makes right. Meaning, nobody knew what the new ruling faction or dynasty would declare legal or illegal, right or wrong, treason or loyalty. So everybody was hedging their bets or making a gamble that the people won’t be protected, so one might as well go predator on them.

People are kept guessing and always forced to pay close attention to the rulers and the seat of power, Mr. Book’s dynamic rules for example, rather than to their own self-improvement and virtue.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:17:35 +0000

Book, he sounds like a UN bureaucrat. Things get done and punishments are handed out based upon favoritism, rather than concrete and predictable systems.

This is also why Leftism is unstable in terms of creating civilization. They can’t make people feel secure enough to risk anything personal, so they start instigating warfare between the classes in order to benefit. Cause cooperation gets harder and harder the more people distrust each other or have to gamble upon whether they will or will not win.

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:44:31 +0000

“He’s big on yelling at them, taking away their electronics, sending them to their room, and making them write confessional essays and having them repeatedly explain to him what they did wrong”

Hee! Sounds a lot like the self criticism enforced on bourgeois enemies of the state during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.