Guest post: Kids need fewer facts, more crap detection

Jeanne Garbarino over at The Mother Geek has graciously allowed me a guest post on her blog. The post is more about parenting than science, but since I advocate for parenting that will lead to scientific thinking, I felt it was worth a mention. Here’s an excerpt:

Life with a 3 year old is full of questions.

“It’s time to put on your underpants.”

“Why?”

“Because we need to leave in 10 minutes.”

“Why?”

“Because if we don’t leave by then we will be late”

“Why?”

“Because time moves ever forward and it takes some time to get there”

“Why?”

“Why does time move forward?”

“Yes. “

“Why can’t we stop time?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Now that, kid, is a good one. Let’s discuss it in the car.”

Many mothers I suppose grow tired of their children’s incessant questioning. But as a scientist-mother I love it. To me, the opportunity and the challenge of my child’s questions are one of the best parts of parenting. My son’s questions remind me that we are still looking. They remind me to look around and ask questions myself. Why is that the way it is? Why do people say those things? I learned that in school, but is that really true? And because my son is only three, his questions require me to be creative. I have to distill the concept into the simplest yet accurate form. It’s quite a bit like science writing….

To read more, head on over.