7 ms·

Child rearing seems like a waste of talent. Our high cost of education should be teaching people to create more value than the 15k/yr of value it is raising a

Child rearing seems like a waste of talent. Our high cost of education should be teaching people to create more value than the 15k/yr of value it is raising a child before the age of 5.(daycare costs, 4 children per 1 adult) As an ancedote, it seems part time mothers are significantly happier than stay at home moms.

rocmcd 7y ago
Trying to distill 'child rearing' to $15k/year and calling it a 'waste of talent' is absurd. Not everything can (and should) be broken down into a monetary amount and optimized for. You can classify anything as a 'waste of talent' when looking through this lens. Are you a software engineer? If so, then doing literally anything apart from developing software is a 'waste of talent'. Cleaning dishes? Gardening? Exercising?
- 76543210 7y ago
  Yes, having a software engineer cleaning dishes for a restaurant is a waste of talent. Maybe if overtime was flexible, you could suggest hiring unskilled workers to do those tasks at home. I love my kid, but it's not like he's learning cutting edge stuff that requires an engineer to teach them. And there's many hours in the evenings and weekends we spend together where he learns how his dad behaves.
  - refurb 7y ago
    A huge part of growing up is developing bonds, understanding relationships and getting your kid on a firm footing so they can deal with what the world throws at them. A lot of that develop happens when they are not learning, or at least you don’t think they are.
    - 76543210 7y ago
      I've been working full time and my kid gets excited to see me every day. The bond is there. If you really want to turn this around, imagine how dependent a child would be on a parent if they never used a babysitter.
      - odshoifsdhfs 7y ago
        My son never used a babysitter. He was raised by both his mother and me at home 24/7 (she didn't work, I worked from home). He is hardly dependent on us. More on his grandparents because they spoil him, but the first 4/5 years of his life, he would see them only a few times a year. You don't need to justify working full time, or your wife/husband doing the same, but there is no way childcare in a nursery/pre school is as good as stay at home parents (assuming normal parents of course). Heck, it is common for kids that are put in nurseries when very young, to develop very very strong bonds with the caretakers, sometimes more than with the parents. (source: studied/worked as one)
        refurb 7y ago
        I would never crap on parents who use childcare (I don’t think you are either), because I know not everyone has the ability to have a stay at home parent or family to look after their kids. My original comment was more targeted to the OPs statement that little kids can’t learn much, so having a parent around doesn’t matter. As a parent myself, I come to realize that even though you might not think your teaching your kids, you are, even just the basics of socialization and play. And on top of that, those shared activities are was build a bond between you and your child, which is necessary to raise a well adjusted child.
        odshoifsdhfs 7y ago
        I am not. My cousin had to put her daughter in a nursery when she was 2 months old as she had to work and grandparents weren't available. I know it is hard, and most people can't stay home. I tell my son he was very lucky to grow up as he did. I know that, and I know a lot of people sacrifice as much as possible for their kids. I was replying to gp about using never using nanny's services or how it is a waste of talent for parents to do so if they can have more 'important' things to work.
take_a_breath 7y ago
==Child rearing seems like a waste of talent.== Based on what metric?
- 76543210 7y ago
  Using identical twins, they find outcomes are basically identical. And really this only applies to 0-5. After that, kids go to school.
  - take_a_breath 7y ago
    What outcomes are basically identical? Could you share the study you seem to be citing? Kids go to school around age 5, but I'm not sure that is the end of child rearing.
    - 76543210 7y ago
      There are lots of studies/stories. Google "identical twins separated at birth" Once a kid is in school, a parent can work. Removing the need for UBI.
      - take_a_breath 7y ago
        I'm not going to do the leg work to validate unsourced claims that you made, but I will assume you don't have kids based on your comments. It's possible that things are more complex than you suggest (or realize). One simple example is the typical start/end time for school. In Houston (a random example, but a very large school district), this is the school schedule [1]: * 7:30 a.m. - 2:50 p.m. for elementary schools and K-8 campuses How well does that schedule fit with a typical job? [1] https://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/2018/01/10/hisd-to-standardize-school-start-times-for-the-2018-19-school-year/ https://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/2018/01/10/hisd-to-standar...
lulula 7y ago
hah. Go create this lean startup factory that raises children from infants to 18 year olds. After all interested parents are superfluous to the well being of a child. Child raising is invisible and yet so crucial to our economy. What happens to our economy when parents refuse to raise the needed labor inputs for free anymore?

rocmcd 7y ago

Trying to distill 'child rearing' to $15k/year and calling it a 'waste of talent' is absurd. Not everything can (and should) be broken down into a monetary amount and optimized for. You can classify anything as a 'waste of talent' when looking through this lens. Are you a software engineer? If so, then doing literally anything apart from developing software is a 'waste of talent'. Cleaning dishes? Gardening? Exercising?

76543210 7y ago
Yes, having a software engineer cleaning dishes for a restaurant is a waste of talent. Maybe if overtime was flexible, you could suggest hiring unskilled workers to do those tasks at home. I love my kid, but it's not like he's learning cutting edge stuff that requires an engineer to teach them. And there's many hours in the evenings and weekends we spend together where he learns how his dad behaves.
- refurb 7y ago
  A huge part of growing up is developing bonds, understanding relationships and getting your kid on a firm footing so they can deal with what the world throws at them. A lot of that develop happens when they are not learning, or at least you don’t think they are.
  - 76543210 7y ago
    I've been working full time and my kid gets excited to see me every day. The bond is there. If you really want to turn this around, imagine how dependent a child would be on a parent if they never used a babysitter.
    - odshoifsdhfs 7y ago
      My son never used a babysitter. He was raised by both his mother and me at home 24/7 (she didn't work, I worked from home). He is hardly dependent on us. More on his grandparents because they spoil him, but the first 4/5 years of his life, he would see them only a few times a year. You don't need to justify working full time, or your wife/husband doing the same, but there is no way childcare in a nursery/pre school is as good as stay at home parents (assuming normal parents of course). Heck, it is common for kids that are put in nurseries when very young, to develop very very strong bonds with the caretakers, sometimes more than with the parents. (source: studied/worked as one)
      - refurb 7y ago
        I would never crap on parents who use childcare (I don’t think you are either), because I know not everyone has the ability to have a stay at home parent or family to look after their kids. My original comment was more targeted to the OPs statement that little kids can’t learn much, so having a parent around doesn’t matter. As a parent myself, I come to realize that even though you might not think your teaching your kids, you are, even just the basics of socialization and play. And on top of that, those shared activities are was build a bond between you and your child, which is necessary to raise a well adjusted child.
        odshoifsdhfs 7y ago
        I am not. My cousin had to put her daughter in a nursery when she was 2 months old as she had to work and grandparents weren't available. I know it is hard, and most people can't stay home. I tell my son he was very lucky to grow up as he did. I know that, and I know a lot of people sacrifice as much as possible for their kids. I was replying to gp about using never using nanny's services or how it is a waste of talent for parents to do so if they can have more 'important' things to work.

take_a_breath 7y ago

==Child rearing seems like a waste of talent.== Based on what metric?

76543210 7y ago
Using identical twins, they find outcomes are basically identical. And really this only applies to 0-5. After that, kids go to school.
- take_a_breath 7y ago
  What outcomes are basically identical? Could you share the study you seem to be citing? Kids go to school around age 5, but I'm not sure that is the end of child rearing.
  - 76543210 7y ago
    There are lots of studies/stories. Google "identical twins separated at birth" Once a kid is in school, a parent can work. Removing the need for UBI.
    - take_a_breath 7y ago
      I'm not going to do the leg work to validate unsourced claims that you made, but I will assume you don't have kids based on your comments. It's possible that things are more complex than you suggest (or realize). One simple example is the typical start/end time for school. In Houston (a random example, but a very large school district), this is the school schedule [1]: * 7:30 a.m. - 2:50 p.m. for elementary schools and K-8 campuses How well does that schedule fit with a typical job? [1] https://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/2018/01/10/hisd-to-standardize-school-start-times-for-the-2018-19-school-year/ https://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/2018/01/10/hisd-to-standar...

lulula 7y ago

hah. Go create this lean startup factory that raises children from infants to 18 year olds. After all interested parents are superfluous to the well being of a child. Child raising is invisible and yet so crucial to our economy. What happens to our economy when parents refuse to raise the needed labor inputs for free anymore?