Babies... 4

The Bad:

That has got to be the darkest, most evil invention of all time: Baby on a leash.
I wont say any more on this topic.

As I thought about cages, jails, and leashes, I realized that there are a few things which are so absurd, I hadn't considered them as points of contemplation. Another topic which I find almost equally absurd, is the desire to move infant to his own room. What the fuck!?!?  Really? Most of the people who hold this opinion move their kids off around 6 months. But recently I discovered a new parent breed - parents who kick their kids to the curb first week. ... WOW... did you just read this and agreed with my point? but not the others in my rambling? Hm.... It's just a tactic some parenting books recommend. So as absurd as it may be, this is an advice some parents follow.

The Good:

On to the good things which actually benefit your kid instead of traumatizing:

Many months and my gramma mentioned some private kindergarten where kids are encouraged to eat with their hands. Best advice ever!!!

Not only does the kid WANT to play with the food, it help develop finer motion controls. There are tons of other benefits - kids get to play with various textures, get a taste for autonomy, provide feedback, etc...

Another interesting thing, is that kids understand very early on, that they cant reach things that fall. So the natural progression of dinner, is that items/foods which kid doesn't want fly off the tables.

The obvious minus is cleanup, and as the kid gets older, the ranger gets wider. As of the writing of this article we're at around 2 meters diameter from the chair.

Get a cordless vacuum :)

Babies... 3

One thing I constantly see/hear is people raising their eyebrow when they hear some of the things I consider good for child development. Playing with my kid upside down for example.

But, then there is this great book... at least the first half is great...

Daddy needs a beer

An average dude with average income wrote it. It's funny as hell (for the first half). This dude basically writes about all the fucks he didn't give when it came to raising his kids, and they seemed to have turned out alright.

Babies... 2

**This whole series about babies came about from me having a baby, and from having read a lot of material with which I passionately disagree. Some stuff I disagree with on a personal level, other on ethical, and some I consider just inhumane. This is all my opinions, written late at night, often after having a nice glass of Islay. If you don't agree with something, and feel compelled to comment, do it!!!**

all of my ideas are based on my life experience, and conversations with like-minded individuals.

I listen to everyone, but if I deem you to be a moron I quickly tune you out, change topic or just walk away. WHAT??? Well.. why should I listen to marriage advice from someone who's divorced. By the same notion, I would unlikely give more than 20% credence to a marriage advice coming from a devout Mormon. It's complicated but it makes sense to me.

There are some interesting books I've read lately that really spoke to me. They really put down on paper a lot of the thoughts I had floating around in my head.. I am sure there are many others, but these jump out at me as of this moment in time.

How children succeed
Drive
Ted video about 5 dangerous things your kids should play with
Ted video about some indian guy who put a computer in the wall with molecular biology in a slum and 10 year olds with no formal education passed a master level exam after 6 months
Wisdom of psychopaths

What else makes a good dad... well, frankly, I think having a cat throughout my entire childhood until I was 20-something, and having a dog from 24 is very beneficial.

Say what you will, but the first year of childs life, they do half the stuff that cats and dogs do their entire life. In retrospect, I wish I had a chimp growing up.... maybe i'll get one for my kid.

go to youtube and look up "dane cook monkey heist"

So what do I think makes a kid awesome?

* allowing the kid to get hurt (maybe not a whole lot like falling down stairs, but some hurt is a must)
* playing with your kid upside down. (I've done a stupid amount of research on this... my conclusion is that people in general are stupid)
* exposing your kid to fire.
* letting your kid walk and crawl on the grass, outside,... generally spending as much fucking time outside as possible.
* letting your kid touch, feel, bite (when mom's not around) as many things are they can reach. When taking kid outside let them touch everything.
* letting your kid try and fail at something. Just give your kid a toy and move the fuck away. Just cause you cant control your frustration with watching your kid fail, doesn't mean you need show your kid how to fucking stack cubes.
* don't let your kid cry hysterically or generally stress for extended periods of time. I like the take in the 'how children succeed on this'.
* don't do the cry it out method. this is fucking selfish. there are as many theories on what to do as there are assholes writing parenting books. which means no one knows what the fuck to do. which means, pretend you live 2000 years ago.. and now pretend there are big fucking baby eating tigers all over the place... and now go leave your baby in another cave where its crys don't bother you cause you need to be in the office in the morning.
* figure out a way to get your kid to reach their boundaries. .. based on an assertion my buddy made regarding the reason behind going to college. he asserted that college will challenge kids in such a way that'll get them to his their boundaries. While I think that's complete and utter bullshit, and colleges are for the most parts are black hole of wasted time, the general premise is very very awesome.
* figure out a way to give your kid stress in a non fatal fashion. based on wisdom of psychopath. don't have to read very far, this gem of ponderment* is about half way through chapter 1.

Ponderment is currently in the bottom 20% of lookups on Merriam-Webster.com. it's also not in a blogger or google dictionaries. yet another lol for education.

Babies... 1..

**This whole series about babies came about from me having a baby, and from having read a lot of material with which I passionately disagree. Some stuff I disagree with on a personal level, other on ethical, and some I consider just inhumane. This is all my opinions, written late at night, often after having a nice glass of Islay. If you don't agree with something, and feel compelled to comment, do it!!!**

What about babies? Well, over the last year I've been spending a lot of time marinating on what does it take to make my kid smart.

Smart is a vague definition and mine probably has no relation to yours. It has nothing to do with ability to get into Harvard, or having an IQ of 700. My definition is more about a toolbox of skills with critical thinking as a main tool.

I've long held a view that IQ is a stupid fucking measurement, but it's not until recently that I've started seriously thinking about the topic. Don't get me wrong, it would be awesome to take some test and score off the chart. However, I have a lot of friends who do in fact score off the charts, and they are nothing special, literally. That... and the fact that a number of recent studies explored the topic of IQ and found that in fact, high IQ has no relationship to actual intelligence, motivation, or the one thing everyone wants, success.

I could go on about college and my complete and utter disappointment with formal education and "teaching to the average". And I could talk well into my 10th beer about wasted years of college and my passionate desire for teachers to actually fail students for fucking around, instead of giving them Cs and Bs without teaching a fucking thing... I have no idea. Not a slightest fucking clue, why schools wont allow students to test out of a class. Why should a student waste his time 'learning' about a subject when after just a few days of studying they could pass all of the tests in the class. WHY???

all that bs considered I was wondering to my self, what could I do to set my kid into the world prepared to deal with all this bull shit. I dunno.. but I am gonna figure it out over the next few years.

and as I do, i'm going to grab a glass .. albeit a large one.. and throw some stuff on paper so 20 years later I can read it, and say, fuck yea, i'm gonna publish it as a book and use the money to go skydiving with my kid .

Comfort = Comprehension

Be Comfortable (and Awake).

That's probably one of the most distracting things for me personally.

Studying at 4am, over a cup of coffee with a drill instructor yelling in your ear... OK, I do that some times, but a review of material and actual studying of it are completely different. A few hints to be productive:

-Take a quick shower. No, does not have to be cold.
-After an hour of studying do 10 push-ups. (women can do some other physical exercise)

Now, as far as comfort:
- Stay warm.
- Have adequate light.
- Reduce outside distractions (ex: cat, dog, noise from your cell phone charger making low buzzing sounds)

Let there be light

A new quarter has begun and with it the struggle to achieve that perfect live-school balance: homework, girlfriend, exercise, an occasional nap. . . (god forbid you have to work).

Much like Enron make money by saving on taxes, most of us can make time through more effective studying. After all, we go to school to learn, might as well do ourselves a favor and make it tedious.

Things to consider:
1) WSJ is in narrow columns, most text books are in page format - which is easier to read for you.
2) Does reading off PC screen put a strain on your eyes?
2a) What's your refresh rate? (or in many cases - what IS a refresh rate?)