Changing behaviour

I guess if there is one thing parenting is about it is trying to change a child's behaviour. In Slate, Alan Kazdin, a psychologist, looks at what not to do and what to do when trying to get your child to behave well. As I have noted before, to an economist, repeated punishment seems to be a sign of failure. However, the psychological viewpoint offers suggestions that might make things better.

Now, before anyone goes to the comments with stuff like, "I shout at my kids like my parents shouted at me and it is just fine," let me just advertise the article as 'something to think about.' Those come along every now and then and give us pause, for just a minute, to reconsider how we ourselves behave and whether it is doing good. This article is one of them.

For others, consider this one about praise and this one about goals.

Some new research for new parents

A couple of new studies have been released recently that would be of interest to new parents.

As reported in Slate, the effects of breastfeeding on babies are in preventing some gastronomical illness but do not appear to have psychological benefits. That still seems to me to make breastfeeding the way to start at least (relative to formula) but it reduces the pressure to continue it beyond three months.

And, as reported in Time, there are great benefits in taking a hard line on sleep. I have written about this previously here and here. Put simply, there is a negotiation to be had and price to be paid. (There is a whole chapter on the issue in Parentonomics. The new research shows that despite my complete lack of expertise, what I advocate there is on the right track).

Predicting birth outcomes

I am not sure what to make to Steve Levitt's post today about ignoring medical advice on IVF implanting (ignoring advice still seems risky) but the last bit was amusing:

My favorite story concerns my son Nicholas:

Relatively early on in the pregnancy we had an ultrasound. The technician said that although it was very early, he thought he could predict whether it would be a boy or a girl, if we wanted to know. We said, “Yes, absolutely we want to know.” He told us he thought it would be a boy, although he couldn’t be certain.

“How sure are you?” I asked

“I’m about 50-50,” he replied.

Anakin Skywalker Lego Cake

Regular readers know the we have an affinity with Lego -- and in particular Star Wars lego -- in our household. So it turns out the same is true for one of my 7 year old son's friends.

To the left is his 8th birthday cake. Yes, it is Anakin Skywalker (circa Attack of the Clones, ie., before the frown) in Lego minifig style. That is all chocolate cake (except for the lightsabre). Yummy. I wonder who got to eat his right hand?

Yes, before you comment on over the top birthday parties, blah, blah, blah, we all agree, but this is darn cool.

How to record lectures

OK so this is how I am going to record lectures in the future. [HT: Geekdad]

You let your child watch what!?! LOTR

There are only a few parenting blogs that I read; one of them is GeekDad at Wired.com. Jacob Russell has an on-going series: "You let our child watch what?!?" It is very amusing. Recently, he has been running through the original series of Star Trek.

Of course, that blog implies a dispute between parents. That isn't the case in our family where it is mutual consent. However, it can still inspire horror in others.

Our latest controversial move was to let our 9 year old watch all 12-odd hours of the extended version of Lord of the Rings. It was over several weeks in six sittings.

Now there are several levels of horror at this. First of all is the horror of not having her read the books first. To which my reaction is: I tried but didn't manage it, no need to expect any more from our daughter. Why restrict access to a ripper of a yarn?

The main reaction of course is that it is a tad violent. Thousands are killed in graphic detail, with lots of scary monsters, one big spider, murderous thoughts and a dual personality creature peppered with lighter moments consisting of talking trees and merry small folk. Suffice it to say, our daughter whose preference is the scarier the better, just loved it.

But I think what really worked for her was the premise of the trilogy. The basic idea what armies would fight for centuries over the possession of a ring played right into her materialistic tendencies. Why wouldn't they do this even if the 'powers' it possesses are relatively undefined? From her perspective it was enough that the ring was unique, rare and precious. Indeed, I think she related most with Gollum who sacrificed everything just to own the ring and never used it for world domination. She felt he died happy; there were no losers. She too would not have cast the ring into the fiery depths of Mount Doom except, of course, if that was the only way to keep others from possessing it.

To be sure, this is unlikely to be the reaction Tolkien would have been going for. But that is the thing with great literature (movies). Everyone takes away something a little different.

Even a child could do it

The Lego sculptures at the Brother's Brick are normally something quite special (for example). But check out the listings for April 1; they will help you understand and appreciate what your children are doing.