westward comments on Ignorance in parenting - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Gunnar_Zarncke 03 September 2013 10:00AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (46)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: westward 03 September 2013 05:31:04PM 4 points [-]

Sometimes, children don't notice their parents noticing. And that's great for kids. They're safe, but don't know they are, so feel powerful.

If the children notice this they may assume that you either condone, accept, bear or ignore it. None of these has positive effects

Why not? It depends on what your goals are.

I think it's pretty useful for kids to learn that the explicit rules aren't the true rules. And that authority does turn a blind eye sometimes.

Comment author: Gunnar_Zarncke 03 September 2013 08:47:48PM 1 point [-]

None of these has positive effects Why not?

'None' was too strong. I agree that there are positive effects - but not if ignorance is used too much.

I think it's pretty useful for kids to learn that the explicit rules aren't the true rules. And that authority does turn a blind eye sometimes.

I agree with that too. With four children authority necessarily has a blind eye often enough.

It depends on what your goals are.

The goal is to give the children a save home from where to conquer the world.

A lot of possibilities to explore even with the risk of getting burned but not seriously harmed.

A lot to learn but firstly things they are interested in and that are at their zone of proximal development.

Some discipline and endurance.

An extended family where they need to adapt to different rules and customs.

Comment author: David_Gerard 03 September 2013 08:37:21PM -1 points [-]

Sometimes, children don't notice their parents noticing. And that's great for kids. They're safe, but don't know they are, so feel powerful.

Mostly they don't notice. Parents develop eyes in the back of their arse and a hearing radius of about 100 metres. (Well, it feels like it.)