Skeptical Parent Crossing #1

Welcome to the first edition of Skeptical Parent Crossing, the blog carnival about skepticism, critical thinking, and parenting. There are many aspects to being a skeptical parent, and as your Crossing Guard this month, I’m pleased to present 12 articles covering a few of them.

As parents, we encounter many claims asking us to change our ways of thinking or acting. One of the main aspects of skeptical parenting is evaluating these non-traditional claims.

The Skeptic Dad examined one such claim. Many, if not most, Koreans believe fans kept on while sleeping can cause death. In Korean Superstitions Vs. SIDS Science, he takes apart this myth, looking at the scientific studies and finding that these beliefs might not only be wrong, but dangerous.

As new parents, we were concerned about the environmental impact of disposable diapers. In The Green Diaper Debate, I looked at the claims of cloth diaper advocates and came to a surprising conclusion.

Then there are more traditional claims, those that come from respected authority figures. These deserve at least as much examination as the non-traditional.

Figur8 at Babylicious found herself drawn to evidence-based parenting during her pregnancy, and examines the roles of instinct and traditional advice in her article Practicalities of Being a Textbook Mum.

While figur8 finds Dr Sears a useful resource, estherar at Mainstream Parenting Resources takes issue with the idea of attachment parenting. In her article Of sources and straw houses: The Annotated Dr. Sears Handout, she looks at the advice and concludes that letting a baby “cry it out” (CIO) at night isn’t quite as harmful as Dr Sears might think.

Many of us who are now of parenting age were probably spanked when we were kids. It was fairly commonplace at the time, and there are some who might believe, “if it didn’t harm me in the long run, then it won’t harm my kids.” orDover points out, in Thinking Critically about Spanking, this is a logical fallacy known as an Appeal to Tradition.

And tradition is the target of Brad at the Skepdad blog. In Sunday Reading: The Kindergarchy he looks at those who reminisce on the “good old days” of parenting, when apparently a father’s entire advice on sexuality was, “You want to be careful.”

Skeptical parenting is more than examining claims, though. One of our most important jobs as parents is teaching children to think critically.

Kimberly Wickham argues that a major component is missing from our schools. Children ask philosophical questions all the time such as, “If I squeeze my eyes shut really tightly and I can’t see where I am, does that make where I am become somewhere else?” In Philosophy as the Missing Link, posted at Migrations, she says children want to learn critical thinking skills, but often don’t receive the instruction in the classroom.

Vaklam at Homologous Trend, in Comic-Book Physics and Accidental Education, argues that we as parents can do much of this instruction ourselves, simply by using everyday experiences as teaching opportunities.

In Aaaah… Turn green! CL Hanson at Rational Moms echoes this point, and discusses skepticism and teaching kids to be observant of the world around them. (Though, as a Crossing Guard, I have to pay close attention to the traffic lights, and she can really confuse me with her spooky magic tricks.)

PodBlack Cat, as a teacher who has confiscated dozens of Magic and Pokemon decks, observes in Getting Game, Parenting And Role-Playing that gaming can teach kids about math, probability, and the scientific method.

Perhaps the most enlightening aspect of teaching children to think critically is how it inevitably changes our own world views. The Perky Skeptic, in a personal story of how becoming a parent changed her whole outlook on the world, explains How The Miracle Of Childbirth Turned Her Atheist.

And what happens if our childen don’t accept our world views? There is a fine line separating teaching from indoctrination, and Mike Haubrich from Clashing Culture asks, Who Owns Our Children’s Minds? As an atheist father who shares parenting duties with a practicing pagan, he examines the role that an atheist should play in teaching his or her children to think critically, while also accepting the fact that they may become religious as adults.

That concludes this edition of Skeptical Parent Crossing. Next month’s Crossing Guard is Skeptic Dad at Science-Based Parenting. Submit your posts for that edition here by November 14th.

Tagged as: blog carnival, critical thinking, skeptical parent crossing, skeptical parenting

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