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This is a good article. It doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for learning a second language and getting immersed in a different culture. To me, it's so clearly rew

by geebee 12y ago

This is a good article. It doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for learning a second language and getting immersed in a different culture. To me, it's so clearly rewarding that I don't need to worry too much about whether it benefits me. However, now that I have kids and read the various upper middle class liberal-ish publications, I've learned so much about what my kids need to be doing. They need to learn an instrument, learn to read music, lean not to rely too much on reading music, develop executive function through certain sports and physical activities such as dance, skateboarding, tennis, or form-based martial arts, play team sports, study math in a less abstract way, learn the abstractions of math, learn to program, learn visual arts in a tactile way, play in nature, learn to swim, engage in at least 5,000 words of abstract dialog and language, and… well crap, I forgot some I think. Oh, now I remember - my kids should also not be over scheduled. got it? good. Something tells me that if you take, uh, a couple of these things, you're probably good. Kind of like how doing pushups also builds your triceps. You don't actually have to do 50 different exercises, one for each known muscle. Languages? Hell yeah, languages. They're great. Go for it. You could also do some of those other things.

VLM 12y ago
"However, now that I have kids and read the various upper middle class liberal-ish publications, I've learned so much about what my kids need to be doing" I can summarize your long list to being whipped up into an anxious frenzy in a fit of Pavlovian conditioning, fall for every piece of clickbait that passes under your mouse cursor, earning a couple ad networks, and the authors, a couple pennies. If you feel bad about not living up to an impossible ideal and feel thats the wrong way to treat people, the advertisers are thrilled because its easier to sell to freaked out people, meanwhile the feminists would like a word with you involving the strategies for mass market advertisements aimed at women.
zwieback 12y ago
Yup, same goes for parents. I don't feel like I have to be perfect at every parenting task. If I'm pretty good at 40% of parenting and my wife is pretty good at another 40% someone else can pick up the remaining 20%.
- gclaramunt 12y ago
  heck, if they are alive and the house is not on fire, you're doing pretty good :)
vacri 12y ago
I don't think it's a good article at all. It refers to 'the bilingual advantage' like it's some atomic, indivisible thing. Even after spending a paragraph talking about mixed results, it still refers to it atomically. Such a binary worldview is harmful - for example, instead of totting up the number of pro-, neutral, and anti- conference abstracts, it would have been far more useful to look at what kind of abstracts showed benefits and not. It may have been that bilingual abstracts showed a benefit for certain auditory cognitive tasks, for example. Instead 'the bilingual advantage' is treated like a sporting team with a win/loss record, hardly appropriate for a complex cognitive concept. Not to mention that totalling studies based only on the abstract is incredibly lazy. Abstracts are free of the minutae, and that minutae can be very important when two studies differ.
pluma 12y ago
I'd say learning an instrument is definitely one of those things that don't necessary have a direct impact, but can be a blessing as an adult. Basically, it avoids a common regret (I never learned an instrument, but I don't care enough to spend the time to learn it now that I'm hitting 30) and provides a way to get into music (instruments or not) with less investment. It opens possibilities for a number of hobbies. Sports are a great way to learn social skills. In order to participate in a team sport (consistently) you need to learn how to deal with people that aren't as pre-selected to your taste as the friends you make in school. You also learn something other people may be worse at than you, which can help with confidence. Especially if the more experienced players are encouraged to train beginners. Most other things are just examples of these or should already be (partially) covered in school, depending on your school system. Many of these should be recreational for the kid. For example, if they hate instrument practice but can read music and understand the basics, I don't see any harm in replacing it with something else at some point. In the end, you just have to be good enough. My childhood left me with a few issues, but most of them sorted themselves out in early adulthood. Just keep this in mind: the reason there are so many opinions on what is the "right way" to raise a child, is that every parent is afraid of doing it wrong. Most advice is anecdotal and the reason people feel strongly about it is that they don't want to have been wrong, not that "it just works". Disclaimer: am not a parent.

by geebee 12y ago

VLM 12y ago

"However, now that I have kids and read the various upper middle class liberal-ish publications, I've learned so much about what my kids need to be doing" I can summarize your long list to being whipped up into an anxious frenzy in a fit of Pavlovian conditioning, fall for every piece of clickbait that passes under your mouse cursor, earning a couple ad networks, and the authors, a couple pennies. If you feel bad about not living up to an impossible ideal and feel thats the wrong way to treat people, the advertisers are thrilled because its easier to sell to freaked out people, meanwhile the feminists would like a word with you involving the strategies for mass market advertisements aimed at women.

zwieback 12y ago

Yup, same goes for parents. I don't feel like I have to be perfect at every parenting task. If I'm pretty good at 40% of parenting and my wife is pretty good at another 40% someone else can pick up the remaining 20%.

gclaramunt 12y ago
heck, if they are alive and the house is not on fire, you're doing pretty good :)

vacri 12y ago

I don't think it's a good article at all. It refers to 'the bilingual advantage' like it's some atomic, indivisible thing. Even after spending a paragraph talking about mixed results, it still refers to it atomically. Such a binary worldview is harmful - for example, instead of totting up the number of pro-, neutral, and anti- conference abstracts, it would have been far more useful to look at what kind of abstracts showed benefits and not. It may have been that bilingual abstracts showed a benefit for certain auditory cognitive tasks, for example. Instead 'the bilingual advantage' is treated like a sporting team with a win/loss record, hardly appropriate for a complex cognitive concept. Not to mention that totalling studies based only on the abstract is incredibly lazy. Abstracts are free of the minutae, and that minutae can be very important when two studies differ.

pluma 12y ago

I'd say learning an instrument is definitely one of those things that don't necessary have a direct impact, but can be a blessing as an adult. Basically, it avoids a common regret (I never learned an instrument, but I don't care enough to spend the time to learn it now that I'm hitting 30) and provides a way to get into music (instruments or not) with less investment. It opens possibilities for a number of hobbies. Sports are a great way to learn social skills. In order to participate in a team sport (consistently) you need to learn how to deal with people that aren't as pre-selected to your taste as the friends you make in school. You also learn something other people may be worse at than you, which can help with confidence. Especially if the more experienced players are encouraged to train beginners. Most other things are just examples of these or should already be (partially) covered in school, depending on your school system. Many of these should be recreational for the kid. For example, if they hate instrument practice but can read music and understand the basics, I don't see any harm in replacing it with something else at some point. In the end, you just have to be good enough. My childhood left me with a few issues, but most of them sorted themselves out in early adulthood. Just keep this in mind: the reason there are so many opinions on what is the "right way" to raise a child, is that every parent is afraid of doing it wrong. Most advice is anecdotal and the reason people feel strongly about it is that they don't want to have been wrong, not that "it just works". Disclaimer: am not a parent.