Spin the Wheel

[lurking101]

I just read this on metafilter and was completely enrapt.

It reads like a short story about how a family's system of disciplining and rewarding their children affected their lives. Maybe the person made it up.

Comments

[look]

honstely, that sounds like child abuse to me.

PS: your metafilter link isn't quite right.

[lurking101]

It may be abusive in some ways but at the same time, I think that child rearing is a touchy subject in general.

I also think this is not a true story even though the person presents it that way. The moral seems to be that you can't use formulas to dictate how you discipline, or don't discipline your children. Maybe later I'll add the link to the post. The post itself is about how telling children how smart they are can lead to laziness and this was one person's response.

Interesting read at least.

I checked it. It should link to metafilter, not the actual post.

[look]

i sent you a story from nymag along the same lines just the other day. http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

you have the link as www.metafilter.com when it should be ask.metafilter.com.

[lurking101]

It wasn't in ask.metafilter. It was in metafilter.

[ilovearielpink]

You should read the book Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn http://www.alfiekohn.org/up/index.html

[lurking101]

Do you have it?

[ilovearielpink]

I don't have it. I bought it for my boss at Borders in the childcare section, $15.

[melancholyeyes]

omg that is SOOOO fucked up. i feel sort of..speechless.

xoxox

[lurking101]

I know!

That's why I think it is not true. It is really well written. And it's completely over the top and fucked up.

It reminds me a lot of something Chuckie P. would write.

[ilovearielpink]

I think it is real. That book tells of how that kind of parenting fucks kids up.

[lurking101]

I could see how it fucks kids up though. I'm not a child psychologist, but if my parents did that, I wouldn't learn that the world is unfair. I would learn that my parents are.