Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 166 posts

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#41

Post by gambiting »

skavi wrote: post #14
isolli wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also a similar theory to explain why boys are more interested in cars than girls (which my kids have proven convincingly, albeit with a low sample size): boys, as future hunters, are attracted to preys that move, hence, in the modern environment, to balls and cars.

Are you perhaps discounting the societal influences pushing your kids towards their respective interests? If they view any amount of advertising or interact with other children who do, for example, they could already have ideas about what is "appropriate" for them to like.

I also think there is a crazy push to say that no, boys/girls definitely don't like certain things naturally, it MUST be social conditioning, and if you even dare to suggest that there is any natural difference to how children develop you must be sexist/patriatrchist/etc etc.

All I want to say is that there seems to be a stupid amount of aggression towards even the mere idea that statistically girls/boys might like something other than boys/girls do even if social conditioning were completely removed(which is a nonsensical idea in the first place, a child is a member of the society from the second they are born, they are not goldfish).

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#42

Post by zwp »

Corrado wrote: post #2

I actually wanted to be a garbage truck driver when I was little. I think it was the power to crush stuff that really stirred my imagination. The smell never really bothered me much and I figured that you would get used to it anyway. The dirty never bother me much either; I was constantly playing in our neighbors backyard that we called the dirt-hole. Yup, garbage man was almost the perfect job. Instead, my love for…

I did this job for a couple of months over a summer when I was in college, (via a temping agency). I did actually kind of enjoy it. The sweet smell of putrefaction from the truck made me retch for the first week and then became kind of homely. Brutally early starts (4am?) but done and home by midday. My crew ran everywhere. They teased me for wearing gloves (broken glass, nappies, tampons... I'll take the teasing, thanks).

Pay for regular employees was okay, by which I mean it was not as bad as you might expect (and considerably more for the driver, for an easier job). There was notable attention from the public, somewhere between condescending and touching, who perhaps didn't know that: the old lady who saved me a pair of jeans ("These were my son's, and I noticed yours are ripped"); the old guy that wanted us to come in for coffee; free lunch from an independent fast food place on Wednesdays.

The size of the operation marked me: the number of 14-ton capacity trucks snorting at the depot at dawn, the scale of the dump, the size of the crane fingers. The amount of garbage. Houses. Businesses. Farms.

Winter months and middle age would probably make the job less attractive but it certainly wasn't a dreadful experience.

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#43

Post by Drakim »

gambiting wrote: post #41
skavi wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you perhaps discounting the societal influences pushing your kids towards their respective interests? If they view any amount of advertising or interact with other children who do, for example, they could already have ideas about what is "appropriate" for them to like.

I also think there is a crazy push to say that no, boys/girls definitely don't like certain things naturally, it MUST be social conditioning, and if you even dare to suggest that there is any natural difference to how children develop you must be sexist/patriatrchist/etc etc. All I want to say is that there seems to be a stupid amount of aggression towards even the mere idea that statistically girls/boys might like s…

I totally agree that insisting it MUST be social conditioning is close-minded and silly. We should be open minded about various possibilities in nature vs nurture.

But on the other hand, lots of people have a tendency to think and say that certain things are "obviously true" based on what they are used to seeing in society, like that boys like cars and girls like dolls, and even start rationalizing it ("This is what is natural and right!") and even actively fight to maintain this "natural truth". They treat boys who like dolls and girls who like cars as deviants who need to be corrected.

And that's bullshit, even if there is a natural inclination towards trends for genders, that doesn't mean that's "natural law" and we ought to make sure to maintain and protect it.

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#44

Post by anonytrary »

ajkjk wrote: post #4

This didn't address my favorite theory: that (some) kids are programmed to learn as much as they can about the nearby megafauna, and in this world the closest approximation is these big garbage/fire/construction vehicles.

I have a different theory, but it's mostly a cheeky, incomplete one. I think infants start out not understanding conservation[0,1] and there is some programmed primitive instruction in humans to understand conservation. It would explain why modern physics exists, and would also explain why kids are obsessed with garbage trucks -- because where the hell does trash actually go? One you understand conservation enough to ask that question, it is inevitable to be obsessed with garbage trucks.

[0] https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Conser...

[1] Things that do not grow or shrink change over time, even if they're redistributed.

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#45

Post by anonytrary »

alperakgun wrote: post #10
ajkjk wrote: post #4

This didn't address my favorite theory: that (some) kids are programmed to learn as much as they can about the nearby megafauna, and in this world the closest approximation is these big garbage/fire/construction vehicles.

yeah me & my son we have spent 3 years chasing garbage trucks, contruction vehicles and fairy tale giants, & dinosaurs. finally minecraft took over.

To be fair, legos took over before Minecraft. Minecraft was basically a virtual manifestation of legos with some really clever role-playing and survival mechanics built in.

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#46

Post by longtom »

okusername wrote: post #17
skavi wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you perhaps discounting the societal influences pushing your kids towards their respective interests? If they view any amount of advertising or interact with other children who do, for example, they could already have ideas about what is "appropriate" for them to like.

There is research showing male rhesus monkeys to have preference for wheeled toys https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583786/ We shouldn't discount possible genetic influences on preferences.

Babies also show these toy preferences very early on, and exposure to prenatal androgens alters the toy preferences in females.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4785908/

The preference for dolls is likely related to the role of females in childcare. Males are more the explorers and hunters. Women never explored nor hunted very much.

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#47

Post by ZeroGravitas »

okusername wrote: post #17
skavi wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you perhaps discounting the societal influences pushing your kids towards their respective interests? If they view any amount of advertising or interact with other children who do, for example, they could already have ideas about what is "appropriate" for them to like.

There is research showing male rhesus monkeys to have preference for wheeled toys https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583786/ We shouldn't discount possible genetic influences on preferences.

If this is the same research that always gets cited, then it more accurately shows that boy and girl monkeys played with the wheeled toys an equal amount, but the girls played with the doll toys more.

That still shows a gender imbalance, but I find it interesting that it always seems to be used to imply that girls don't like trucks, rather than boys don't like dolls as much.

(A similar rhetorical trick is used when talking about favorite colours. Apparently lots of people's kids just love pink and this tells them it's all genetic, yet if you survey women their favourite color is the same as men, blue. They just collectively prefer pink more than men relatively speaking)

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#48

Post by ZeroGravitas »

gambiting wrote: post #41
skavi wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you perhaps discounting the societal influences pushing your kids towards their respective interests? If they view any amount of advertising or interact with other children who do, for example, they could already have ideas about what is "appropriate" for them to like.

I also think there is a crazy push to say that no, boys/girls definitely don't like certain things naturally, it MUST be social conditioning, and if you even dare to suggest that there is any natural difference to how children develop you must be sexist/patriatrchist/etc etc. All I want to say is that there seems to be a stupid amount of aggression towards even the mere idea that statistically girls/boys might like s…

Are you really saying that in our society there is a more stupid amount of aggression towards things being gender neutral that are actually gendered than the reverse?

This seems absurdly out of touch with reality.

To give just one example, but I hope you'd agree there are literally millions if you think about it for a second: There was a recent Hollywood movie and documentary about the true story of a man who was beaten into a coma and permanently brain damaged for wearing the wrong kind of clothes for his gender. And that doesn't seem particularly unusual to me (it's not really the focus of the movie).

I can't think of anything close to that in reverse?

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#49

Post by gadders »

KC8ZKF wrote: post #11
Scarblac wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been thinking about being a garbage man (not the truck driver) for one day a week. Physical work, outside, and it seems your mind could subconsciously work on the big problems in the rest of your life while doing it.

Everybody hates a tourist.

I think if you pull your weight, you would earn some measure of respect.

Re: Why Kids Love Garbage Trucks

#50

Post by globular-toast »

Fnoord wrote: post #37
heinrichhartman wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My girl was 9months when sh started acrively pushing for bracelets, fancy hats, etc. I took her to a bike shop, an she immediately went for the pink Helmet with stars. We dressed her in neutral cloths (second hand), we dont have a TV. Her mother does not wear juwlery or makeup. To us this appears innate.

My daughter (almost 2) doesn't like dolls, fancy hats, jewelry, etc (and neither does her mother); she prefers vehicles ("toot toot") and puzzles. We dressed her neutral (though including some blue and pink at times, also other colours), and sometimes girly (for parties like anniversaries etc). Oh, and she loves the police/ambulance/fire dept, but most of all, the garbage truck!

Yeah, my sister, who was born into a family of three significantly older brothers and plenty of boy toys, didn't start to express feminine traits until a bit older. But puberty is, of course, when the biggest differences emerge.
Post reply on HN