5 ms·

As a parent I want my daughter to have a wide variety of experiences. So if she spends all her time on any one activity I am going to encourage her to swap it a

by weavie 8y ago

As a parent I want my daughter to have a wide variety of experiences. So if she spends all her time on any one activity I am going to encourage her to swap it around and do something else. If she spent all her time playing guitar I would probably take her guitar off her and tell her to read a book.. if she spent all her time reading a book I would take it off her and tell her to go outside.. If she was outside all the time I would tell her to come in and play a computer game.. It just so happens that what she wants to do all the time is play computer games, so that is the thing I have to keep steering her away from. I'm not convinced it is the screen itself that is harmful, but it is definitely the thing that stops her from wanting to do anything else.

tw1010 8y ago
You can sit on the computer all day and experience a wide variety of things. And you can be outside for a day and not experience much new at all.
- bocklund 8y ago
  You can be outside all day and experience a wide variety of things. And you can sit on the computer for a day and not experience much new at all.
- collyw 8y ago
  Less likely to mess up your vision if you go outside.
  - FroshKiller 8y ago
    UV radiation from sunlight is terrible for your vision.
    - ZeroFries 8y ago
      One of the most strongly supported hypothesis for why everyone is suddenly near-sighted is a lack of natural light.
      - Loughla 8y ago
        Holy shit. I was literally just having a conversation with my spouse yesterday about why so many children wear glasses. I was convinced it was a 'back in my day' syndrome popping up again. Do you have any citations? Because it genuinely seems like more kids wear glasses than they used to.
        ZeroFries 8y ago
        Lots of data out there. Myopia is pretty rare in hunter-gatherer populations, but rates ncrease rapidly as the same population modernizes. Example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1956268/?page=1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1956268/?page=1
    - tcoff91 8y ago
      https://myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-myopia-development/ https://myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-myopia...
- Jill_the_Pill 8y ago
  Don't sit on your computer. It's fragile.
  - _Schizotypy 8y ago
    Until they start embedding computers into chairs
pjc50 8y ago
This definitely sounds like a recipe for never-ending conflict.
- weavie 8y ago
  Do you have kids?
  - _Schizotypy 8y ago
    As if having kids somehow qualifies someone to magically be able to comment on parenting
    - weavie 8y ago
      Before I had kids I knew exactly how to be the perfect parent. That all changed once I became a dad.
      - _Schizotypy 8y ago
        My point is that both parents and non-parents don't know. There is no established standard.
    - CharlesW 8y ago
      "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."
- LitFan 8y ago
  From the tone of your comment it sounds like you think conflict is bad. As a bit of a sidebar: It's the parent's job to teach a child how to live a healthy lifestyle as an adult. It's impossible to live a healthy lifestyle while doing only one activity, because there are many things that need doing around your house, or in your life, as an adult that most people won't have someone doing for them. A parent's goals will conflict with a child's goals - the child lacks the wisdom the adult has gained over their lifetime, and as a result doesn't understand what they need to work on to become a functioning adult. At the same time, the child should challenge the adult's authority frequently - in order to discover the boundaries of their behavior. This has the additional benefit of giving the adult a lens through which to evaluate their own behavior. I've learned more about myself and tempering my behavior from interacting with my daughter in the last 2 years than I had in the ten years before she was born. I hope that as a result, I'm a better parent now than I would have been ten or even two years ago. On topic: I agree with the GP - too much of any one activity is no good. Everyone needs to learn that there's a time and a place for each activity, and that there are many things important to keep us happy and healthy.
opan 8y ago
That sounds like it would prevent deep work and make it difficult to get good at anything.
- weavie 8y ago
  She's 8.
- Loughla 8y ago
  What child under 15 needs to worry about getting good at anything instead of trying as much as they can to see where their interests are?
  - solveit 8y ago
    A good portion of HN is people that got good at things before they were 15 and now lead comfortable lives thanks to that. Early specialization has its merits, unfortunately,
  - Chris_Jay 8y ago
    I think getting good at getting good at things is also good to do at that age. I'm in favour of encouraging kids to study broadly, but I've also ready very compelling accounts of where encouraging a kid's narrow interests got the child to learn ancillary things much more quickly (though TBF, that child was deeply on the spectrum and perhaps not a typical example)

by weavie 8y ago

tw1010 8y ago

You can sit on the computer all day and experience a wide variety of things. And you can be outside for a day and not experience much new at all.

bocklund 8y ago
You can be outside all day and experience a wide variety of things. And you can sit on the computer for a day and not experience much new at all.
collyw 8y ago
Less likely to mess up your vision if you go outside.
- FroshKiller 8y ago
  UV radiation from sunlight is terrible for your vision.
  - ZeroFries 8y ago
    One of the most strongly supported hypothesis for why everyone is suddenly near-sighted is a lack of natural light.
    - Loughla 8y ago
      Holy shit. I was literally just having a conversation with my spouse yesterday about why so many children wear glasses. I was convinced it was a 'back in my day' syndrome popping up again. Do you have any citations? Because it genuinely seems like more kids wear glasses than they used to.
      - ZeroFries 8y ago
        Lots of data out there. Myopia is pretty rare in hunter-gatherer populations, but rates ncrease rapidly as the same population modernizes. Example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1956268/?page=1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1956268/?page=1
  - tcoff91 8y ago
    https://myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-myopia-development/ https://myopiaprofile.com/why-outdoor-time-matters-in-myopia...
Jill_the_Pill 8y ago
Don't sit on your computer. It's fragile.
- _Schizotypy 8y ago
  Until they start embedding computers into chairs

pjc50 8y ago

This definitely sounds like a recipe for never-ending conflict.

weavie 8y ago
Do you have kids?
- _Schizotypy 8y ago
  As if having kids somehow qualifies someone to magically be able to comment on parenting
  - weavie 8y ago
    Before I had kids I knew exactly how to be the perfect parent. That all changed once I became a dad.
    - _Schizotypy 8y ago
      My point is that both parents and non-parents don't know. There is no established standard.
  - CharlesW 8y ago
    "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."
LitFan 8y ago
From the tone of your comment it sounds like you think conflict is bad. As a bit of a sidebar: It's the parent's job to teach a child how to live a healthy lifestyle as an adult. It's impossible to live a healthy lifestyle while doing only one activity, because there are many things that need doing around your house, or in your life, as an adult that most people won't have someone doing for them. A parent's goals will conflict with a child's goals - the child lacks the wisdom the adult has gained over their lifetime, and as a result doesn't understand what they need to work on to become a functioning adult. At the same time, the child should challenge the adult's authority frequently - in order to discover the boundaries of their behavior. This has the additional benefit of giving the adult a lens through which to evaluate their own behavior. I've learned more about myself and tempering my behavior from interacting with my daughter in the last 2 years than I had in the ten years before she was born. I hope that as a result, I'm a better parent now than I would have been ten or even two years ago. On topic: I agree with the GP - too much of any one activity is no good. Everyone needs to learn that there's a time and a place for each activity, and that there are many things important to keep us happy and healthy.

opan 8y ago

That sounds like it would prevent deep work and make it difficult to get good at anything.

weavie 8y ago
She's 8.
Loughla 8y ago
What child under 15 needs to worry about getting good at anything instead of trying as much as they can to see where their interests are?
- solveit 8y ago
  A good portion of HN is people that got good at things before they were 15 and now lead comfortable lives thanks to that. Early specialization has its merits, unfortunately,
- Chris_Jay 8y ago
  I think getting good at getting good at things is also good to do at that age. I'm in favour of encouraging kids to study broadly, but I've also ready very compelling accounts of where encouraging a kid's narrow interests got the child to learn ancillary things much more quickly (though TBF, that child was deeply on the spectrum and perhaps not a typical example)