Inputs go directly into the Output ...

Consider a scenario - A group of friends and one rambunctious toddler driving the parents wild ... out comes the threat ...


"If you don't listen .... we will lock you in the bathroom / dark room / terrace " etc ... And for added benefit - the threat is carried out sometime too .. so the child knows exactly what that fear is ....

Cut the scene - a few years later - the parents saying "I have no idea why he/she is afraid of the dark - he/she is old enough now to switch on the light in a dark room by himself/herself".

 

Is this a rocket science that the result from such constant admonishments is not visible ? The inputs are processed to shape the output !!!

 

Yet I see this every day and from educated and supposedly mature parents ... the other variations of the same ...

• Don't go into the water you will drown ; Later -- I don't understand why he/she is afraid to go to swimming lessons and keeps screaming ?
• Don't run/jump/climb etc you will get hurt; Later -- Look at that kid ... he/she is so good at sports and you ....
• Don't eat that - it is not the season for it ... ; Later - my child is fussy about food ....
• Don't make a mess or keep quiet - I am working and switching on the cartoon channel .... ; Later -- all he/she does is watch TV whole day ...

Admittedly parenting is a tough job [ especially if you think it to death :))) !!! ] We don't have the energy to keep up with kids and trying to maintain discipline when the child is on the tantrum train is a nightmare ....... yet ... some effort at viewing ourselves from the outlook of a child is required I think.

  

It seems to me very often - kids need a break from parents more than parents needing a break from kids !!! The world is a wonderful place in the child's eyes and in these days when the time for innocence and fun is shortening day by day .... they need a break from the the conflicting instructions ...

 

This is why I think a child is given extra energy to be naughty and irrepressible ; simply because if it were otherwise kids would become robots performing at the will of parents !!!! And nobody including parents .. would like such kids !!! :))) Contradictory eh ? :))

 

Book Review - Superfreaknomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

If I had to use one word to sum up this book I would use "Meandering" and not in a bad way. It is interesting and has lots of statistical data !

 

 Some of the topics covered include -

 

• Global warming ( but ofcourse !! :) ) - Some unconventional methods to reverse the warming.
• On People - If we are by nature altruistic or selfish
• How to catch a terrorist using data mining techniques ; one of the variables is life insurance
• Prostitution - many areas in this topic
• Drunken driving vs Drunken walking
• Doctors washing their hands ( and yes most don't seem to !!! )
• How safe are car seats vs seat Belts for kids and so on ....

There is a vast amount of diverse information packed in a good narrative style. It is more like a fiction book with non-fiction data ! :)

 

But I must admit the section on being a female in India made me cringe - not that what is written is not the truth because it unfortunately is and the arrow strikes too close to home.

I do not think this book has the impact of their first book "Freakonomics" or perhaps the "freak" of the first book - they seem to have lost some punch and are unconvincing in some of their arguments.

Also some insights seem more common knowledge than something that challenges preconceptions. Like the information on women dying during childbirth due to doctors not washing their hands. Or even people needing incentives to be more altruistic ( may be a cynical knowledge ! :) ).

  

All in all - an enjoyable but hardly a must read.