So I have a three-year old kid, and will usually read or tell him a bedtime story.
That is a nice opportunity to introduce new concepts, but my capacity for improvisation is limited, especially towards the end of the day. So I'm asking the good people on LessWrong for ideas. How would you wrap various lesswrongish ideas in a short story a little kid would pay attention to?
I'm mostly interested in the aspects of "practical rationality" that aren't going to be taught at school or in children's books or children's TV shows - so things like Sunk Costs, taking the outside view, wondering which side is true instead of arguing for a side, etc.
Pointers to outside sources of such stories are welcome too!
Edit: actually, if you want to share ideas of games or activities of the same kind, go ahead! :)
You seem to have the goal of exposing your child to ideas. Will you be expecting these ideas to take root? Your child might not get it, and your child might get it but not care as you do. If either of these outcomes happens, do not be discouraged. Memories that you spent time together matter most.
I encourage you to read Piaget theories of childhood development. Two sentences for you to consider: "At about two to four years of age, children cannot yet manipulate and transform information in a logical way. However, they now can think in images and symbols."
Nah, it's more a strategy of "try a lot of things and see what sticks" - and also, I want to get better at teaching those kinds of ideas; if they don't stick now, they might later when the kid has grown and my teaching ability has as well.
(I've read about Piaget - though not from Piaget himself; more in Psychology textbooks and Wikipedia - and have been reading up more generally on psychology of development and learning; I know that at that age plenty of parts of the brain aren't fully developed yet, so I don't have high hopes for teaching everything at a young age)