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> We cannot even begin to comprehend how people raise larger families with less. Yes. The financial well being of the parents matters! I was surprised the arti
by dahart 4y ago
> We cannot even begin to comprehend how people raise larger families with less.
Yes. The financial well being of the parents matters! I was surprised the article didn’t even mention this. Some of the for and against examples can be explained by the presence or absence of money, education in later life, and simple nutrition early in life, for example. The authors didn’t really explain what parenting matters for, nor what the theory they’re countering is claiming exactly. But if what we’re talking about is financial outcomes (and there’s some evidence it is: “Twenty years later, those children were still earning more than the control group.”) then it does need to be stated that financial outcomes of children correlates highly with the socioeconomic status of their parents.
> The idea is so manifestly ridiculous that I suspect those who think it is true, want it to be true.
FWIW, I usually try to take that as a sign that maybe nobody thinks it’s true, and/or the author is exaggerating or oversimplifying history, and/or that I might have misunderstood what the idea is. My sense for the first two at least was tingling a little while reading this.
- em-bee 4y agoTwenty years later, those children were still earning more than the control group i thought this was related to: mothers of growth-stunted children in 1980s Jamaica were taught how to engage their children with home activities to provide cognitive and psychosocial stimulation, their children caught up with their peers. i understood this to be a study where all parents had the same socioeconomic status, but the kids whose parents were taught how to engage them ended up being better off.
- dahart 4y agoThat’s a good point, you’re right. But the ability to “intervene” may depends on financial resources, right? And my point was that the metic being used is financial outcome. It’s true that financial outcome correlates with parental SES.
- em-bee 4y agowell, outside of that study, the socioeconomic status very well influences whether parents have access to that sort of knowledge. obviously. the study is simply unrelated to that issue. but it also shows that adult education can have a positive impact. when we are debating how we can raise the socioeconomic status of a group of people, the talk is mostly about better schools for the kids, but i have come to believe what we really need is additional education and support for parents.