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On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

nytimes.com

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Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#61

Post by pg »

xlnt wrote: post #58
ph0rque wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any kids? Do you realize how unpredictable it is to plan things for your child, for example, how sick the child is going to be, or how well-tempered?

My post is simply about logic and who said what. Nothing more. Why can't you read it rationally? And, BTW, if you and other parents can't read it rationally, why should I believe you handle parenting matters rationally? Parenting matters are more difficult and more emotional than reading a simple forum post.

Here is the rational answer you seem to want. (a) This problem is so hard you can probably never solve it satisfactorily, and (b) you can't know what it's going to be like to have kids before you have them, or what your kids will be like. So however much thought you expend on the question before having kids, you're still going to be working on it afterward.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#62

Post by wumi »

as a side note why do I have to click through two pages of ads to see the 2nd page of the article? (I didn't hit 'print article' because I figured it was another click to see the whole page anyways)

These msm companies online (forbes, NYT, et. al) really have not figured it out yet.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#63

Post by rdj »

e40 wrote: post #43
cpr wrote: post #18

I know one shouldn't question orthodoxy, but it seems insane to me to have children and then dump them all day, from a young age, with strangers. What's the point of having them if you're not raising them?

I'm guessing you don't have children. Children being alone at home vs. being with lots of other children in daycare has many benefits. First, over the years I've seen a lot of kids that stayed at home with mom that were not socialized well at all. Being in a group is how we evolved. It's natural and normal. Being at home with one parent all day is not normal at all. Aside from socialization, being in the "home bubble…

I have three children. While I don't condone the "home bubble", I do strongly believe children need to be raised by their parents and not some daycare center. I have seen parents dropping kids off for 8-12 hours a day just to chase more money. Hell, we tried it ourselves. But guess what? You spend the money you have. If you can't make do with little, a little more isn't going to make a big difference.

Also, the kids being raised by strangers have behavior problems, not because they aren't socialized, but because there is a fundamental breakdown in the family structure.

We could debate this all day, but it probably isn't relevant for most here and no one way works for everyone.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#64

Post by aswanson »

lisper wrote: post #25
davidw wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the parent of a 2 month old, it's a difficult question we're facing right now. Who? How? When? Should my wife, with a doctorate in biochemistry, abandon her career completely and stay home? Should I? I'm not enthusiastic about those options. Should we hire someone? Not wild about that either. I think the best would be to kind of try and switch off, but it's going to require a lot of flexibility, and perhaps earnin…

With all due respect, did it never occur to you to get this all figured out BEFORE you had kids?

Of course life is completely deterministic and predictable given the current information we have.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#65

Post by xlnt »

pg wrote: post #61
xlnt wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My post is simply about logic and who said what. Nothing more. Why can't you read it rationally? And, BTW, if you and other parents can't read it rationally, why should I believe you handle parenting matters rationally? Parenting matters are more difficult and more emotional than reading a simple forum post.

Here is the rational answer you seem to want. (a) This problem is so hard you can probably never solve it satisfactorily, and (b) you can't know what it's going to be like to have kids before you have them, or what your kids will be like. So however much thought you expend on the question before having kids, you're still going to be working on it afterward.

I didn't argue with that, or ask for an answer of that type, or say that davidw did anything wrong other than misread lisper's post.

I thought the waterfall development link basically answered the question about advanced planning. I'm mostly interested in the emotional fragility of parents and wanted to see what would happen if I pointed out that logic does not back up his reaction.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#66

Post by ivankirigin »

gaius wrote: post #30
ivankirigin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a huge business opportunity.

If Google entered the education business its shareholders would (rightly) wonder what its competitive advantage in that market would be, and whether the margins (return on capital) would be more or less than its existing businesses. Seriously, what could Google bring to the table here?

Education has followed an industrial/factory model for many decades, with few exceptions. The founds of Google went through one of the exceptions: Montessori.

We need to update education, and a tech company is the right place to start. A simple example: build a natural language query system to allow a child to get any question answered immediately. May as well call it 411-GOOG 2.0

These issues are very much related to how google makes money today.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#67

Post by lg »

pg wrote: post #59
cpr wrote: post #18

I know one shouldn't question orthodoxy, but it seems insane to me to have children and then dump them all day, from a young age, with strangers. What's the point of having them if you're not raising them?

In preindustrial societies, children don't spend every moment with their parents. They roam around the village, and the adults and older children collectively keep an eye on them. The problem now is, there's no village. The older children are segregated in separate schools, and most of the adults are at work. Daycare is, in effect, the closest substitute we've been able to invent for a village on this axis. It may no…

When I was a kid, this is exactly how our (northeast Philly) neighborhood was. I never thought about it but I guess a lot of the older kids just didn't go to school.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#68

Post by calambrac »

davidw wrote: post #35
lisper wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, did it never occur to you to get this all figured out BEFORE you had kids?

Wow, I don't think I've ever been so offended by something on this site. Your implication that I haven't thought about the future of my daughter is... something I hope you never say to any other parent. We've done our best to think about the future, but it's unknowable.

Oh, come on. His question was obviously in response to your statements about what happens to your careers, not about whether or not you had thought about your daughter's future.

It's not like the career question is unforeseeable. Many people put off having kids due to that exact issue. You can be offended all you like, but if you really didn't have a solid answer to that question before you had your child, I do think you were being irresponsible.

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#69

Post by lurkage »

xlnt wrote: post #65
pg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the rational answer you seem to want. (a) This problem is so hard you can probably never solve it satisfactorily, and (b) you can't know what it's going to be like to have kids before you have them, or what your kids will be like. So however much thought you expend on the question before having kids, you're still going to be working on it afterward.

I didn't argue with that, or ask for an answer of that type, or say that davidw did anything wrong other than misread lisper's post. I thought the waterfall development link basically answered the question about advanced planning. I'm mostly interested in the emotional fragility of parents and wanted to see what would happen if I pointed out that logic does not back up his reaction.

"I'm mostly interested in the emotional fragility of parents and wanted to see what would happen if I pointed out that logic does not back up his reaction."

= trolling

Re: On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

#70

Post by menloparkbum »

xlnt wrote: post #65
pg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the rational answer you seem to want. (a) This problem is so hard you can probably never solve it satisfactorily, and (b) you can't know what it's going to be like to have kids before you have them, or what your kids will be like. So however much thought you expend on the question before having kids, you're still going to be working on it afterward.

I didn't argue with that, or ask for an answer of that type, or say that davidw did anything wrong other than misread lisper's post. I thought the waterfall development link basically answered the question about advanced planning. I'm mostly interested in the emotional fragility of parents and wanted to see what would happen if I pointed out that logic does not back up his reaction.

"and wanted to see what would happen"

So you didn't really care what people had to say, you were just trying to bait them? i.e. you were being a troll on purpose?

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