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How to get kids to pay attention

npr.org

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Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#201

Post by golergka »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #129
mhb wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this really so hard to figure out? Very few people would do things which are useful to keep civilization running if they have a choice. Look at what people do with their leisure time - watch commercial TV, play video games, look at nonsense on Facebook. It wouldn't be pretty.

> watch commercial TV, play video games, look at nonsense on Facebook. It wouldn't be pretty Because that's all most people can do after 8-10 hours (+ commute) of soul-draining work, and then some household chores. Let's not assume that this is the default of human leisure just because it's all people have energy for after hard day of work.

But how come that's what most of jobless people do, too?

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#202

Post by akavel »

jonnytran wrote: post #193
jeroenhd wrote: post #52

Text-only link because NPR couldn't be bothered to make their GDPR compliance page link to the correct page: https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=621752789

How did you find this? I looked all over but was unable to find it after declining and going the the plaintext site. I would love the text-only site... if it worked.

You can copy the story ID from the original URL. It's the "long" number just after the date — e.g. in the following URL:

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/06/21/6217527...

it's 621752789. I would then click any random story on the default "plain text site" (https://text.npr.org/), to quickly get a base URL for a story, and then replace the sId in the URL with the copied number. Thus:

https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=621752789

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#203

Post by hycaria »

c22 wrote: post #173
c22 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely didn't tell the whole story, but the anecdotes I picked are representative of my parenting technique, which is why I picked them. I think the most important trait when parenting is empathy--reconstructing the scenario in your mind from the child's perspective. I think a lot of people do this with other adults, but forget to do it with children, and especially small children. Perhaps because they assume t…

Downvoters: can you be more specific? Usually it's obvious on a reread when I've failed to contribute to the conversation and I'll take the downvotes gladly, but this one has me stumped. Do you just not agree with my opinions, or have I come off as too sanctimonious?

Does it really matter ? (I didn't downvote, but votes don't matter).

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#204

Post by FartyMcFarter »

golergka wrote: post #201
TeMPOraL wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> watch commercial TV, play video games, look at nonsense on Facebook. It wouldn't be pretty Because that's all most people can do after 8-10 hours (+ commute) of soul-draining work, and then some household chores. Let's not assume that this is the default of human leisure just because it's all people have energy for after hard day of work.

But how come that's what most of jobless people do, too?

Jobless people are often stressed.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#206

Post by xstartup »

I and my wife discuss programming matters in front of our kids. And my kids listen to the discussions and want to be part of it.

Then I start teaching the basics, they are a bit more willing to hear.

Here the incentive for them is to be part of the club where interesting things are happening.

We laugh at coding jokes which kids don't appear to understand which leaves them confused.

So, it seems they are aware they lack some understanding because of which they are unable to understand us.

The same idea has worked for math, playing musical instruments like keyboard/ukelele, physical exercises like skipping ropes or air pushups.

If I simply give them a computer or ukelele, they won't be interested as they don't know how to hold a ukulele or have no one to tell them how to hold it right and how to fuse a chord progression with the strumming pattern. These things are not obvious by just watching or hits and trials on a guitar/ukelele.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#207

Post by NLips »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #166
unit91 wrote: post #109

I have 6 kids, and I've found it's pretty simple to get kids to pay attention (or anything else). Be consistent, and willing to discipline if necessary. Here's the order I follow: 1. Polite request 2. Polite command 3. Stern command 4. Warning 5. Push-ups 6. Spanking They know I love them and because of that love obedience is required. Situations rarely escalate past step 2, and step 6 is memorable. ETA: for anything…

Spanking is child abuse, there's a ton of evidence backing that up, stop doing it.

Actually the evidence is extremely poor, largely because 'spanking' seems to cover anything from a slap on the bottom to beating around the face with your fists.

If you have evidence to the contrary, please provide it.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#208

Post by b1daly »

The way my step sons live strikes me as having much less autonomy than I had at their age. I’m still boggles that young kids aren’t allowed to walk to school by themselves.

Most of the time, I tend to think as long as good basic care is taken of kids, they can work out all sorts of weird child rearing environments just fine.

Something that has given me pause though is the astonishing addictive power of the various “screen” which occupy so much attention. Unibiquitous telecommunication is something new in human history, and it really grabs hold of people, the young as much as anyone. My concern is that our highly tuned psycho-physiology has not evolved to handle the type of activity, and it’s distorting our consciousnesses, and ability to pay attention, in ways that are unhealthy.

(Similarly to how humans have a hard time with too much access to processed food with high calorie amounts.)

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#209

Post by NLips »

panic wrote: post #164
s4vi0r wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't spank your kids. It has no benefit, and many negative effects.

Yeah, the research is pretty clear on this. From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3447048/ : > Although some studies have found no relation between physical punishment and negative outcomes, and others have found the relation to be moderated by other factors, no study has found physical punishment to have a long-term positive effect, and most studies have found negative effects.

The research is pretty poor. The main problem is that all physical punishment is landed into a single pot, but there is clearly a world of difference slapping a fifteen year old in the face and slapping the bottom of a four year old.

See here for a useful meta-analysis: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10567-005-2340-z

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#210

Post by TomMarius »

chongli wrote: post #103
TomMarius wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would mean raising prices, and thus the toilet cleaner him/herself wouldn't be able to buy the things that you want them to reach anyways.

Yes, and then pay the toilet cleaners even more, raise prices again, and so on. A virtuous upward cycle which would eventually bring their lives more in line with everyone else's.

How did it bring someone's life in line with everyone else when they're still unable to buy the things other people can buy? Do you realise that once the cleaner is more expensive than a Japanese toilet is to maintain, the cleaner will be fired and will have nothing instead?
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