Taming the Savage Scientists

Speaking of parenting, I didn’t get a chance earlier when I first read it, but I wanted to point out this Tony Woodlief article, found via Glenn here.  And since it was days ago I first started to write this post and was unable to finish it, I have no idea what I was going to say, so perhaps a reread of the article is in order…

Ah, I love this part:

As a father of four sons, I’ve signed on to Mr. Sowell’s summation of a parent’s duty: “Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.”

Which echoes what I have said and thought since having kids.

This is why I expect and am frustrated by the difficulty in obtaining instant obedience to a tone of command:

It’s not surprising, then, to see Mr. Sowell approvingly cite Edmund Burke’s observation that traditions provide “wisdom without reflection.” This is lived out in our house by the dictum that parents are to be obeyed first, and politely questioned later. That seems oppressive to parents with the unconstrained worldview, who want to nurture Junior’s sense of autonomy and broad-minded reasoning. It’s awfully useful, however, when Junior is about to ride his bike into the path of an oncoming car. Obedience may be a dirty word in progressive schools and enlightened parenting circles, but it saves lives.

Yet oddly enough, it seems to work on them when it’s most needed, as if they distinguish early the difference between street pizza avoidance and being ordered to open the door and stop tormenting the sister who wants to go through it.

Rather than help our children develop internal constraints that channel their energy and passion into productive enterprises, we end up teaching them that limits and discipline are for chumps.

Indeed.

But what do you do with children who are immune to spanking?  I remember being spanked, only a couple times, as one of the most traumatic things ever.  On the other hand, I remember the reasons for it being insignificant and capricious; something that can happen easily.  Sadie borders on old enough to reason with, where that’s appropriate.  I remember how much I always wanted to know the reasoning, the why, so I understood that it really was important to do something, or not.  But I also seem to have been born with a terror of authority figures that would have made it easy to stop me from harm with a stern voice.

I know we have unusual children in some ways.  Still, you learn or confirm a lot by having kids.  They provide a look at genetics, evolution, prehistory, instinctive behaviors, the primacy of inborn personality, competition, inherent cruelty and arbitrary acts right alongside inherent logic, which can lead to interesting outcomes and provide a built-in bull detector, and so forth.  They are born scientists, and the parents are experimental subjects.  Perhaps it confuses the kids when the rats think they run the lab…

Posted by on 09/10 at 08:23 AM

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