How Quickly They Learn

Whether we want them to learn it or not

Yesterday I was with family, watching the Pakistan vs India cricket match. This was the first Cricket match that R has watched. One of the things that amazed me was how he celebrated the outs and sixers with us. He saw us scream in excitement and joined us in screaming. Looked at the TV, saw them raising their hand in making their appeals and decided okay, I guess that is the dance we’re supposed to do to here. But what caught me was how with just our excitement he learned that an interesting moment happened on TV, joined us in the celebration, and even emulated the correct signals. And that reminded me of how little understanding children have of their own desires and how impressionable they are for even what is interesting. And we see many examples of this.

So this is an image from an old match. The Cricketer shown Wasim Akram has long retired. But this is an image of Wasim Akram making an appeal. Because in Cricket, well to get someone out you actually have to appeal to the umpire to declare the out. And R’s dance for an out was very reminiscent of Wasim Akram. // Image courtesy ESPN from 2003 Cricket World Cup Pakistan v Namibia

How Girls Become Bad At Math

There is a huge gender gap in STEM fields. And there is a lot of data showing that the difference is cultural. But what’s really interesting is that there is no gender gap initially. It’s when girls learn and internalize the stereotype that they are not supposed to be good at Math is when the gap starts to appear. You can check out this article by the American Psychology Association that shows the Math anxiety among female teachers is correlated with Math anxiety among their female students. It really makes us wonder how much impact Barbie had when she said, “Math class is tough”.

Simpsons spoofing the messages of Barbie

My First Diet

When I was a kid, maybe 10 years old, I saw a commercial on TV for Diet 7up. At that time I didn’t know what the word diet meant. All that I knew was that these guests came and they really really seem to be enjoying their diet 7up. So I figured it has to be good if they are enjoying it so much. Shortly after that we went to get some soft drinks with my uncle’s family. Curious about this new drink I asked for it. My aunt made a joke about why do I need it. My cousin tried to emulate me. His parent talked him out of it saying it tastes really bad. I don’t remember if I had the courage to change my order. But I do remember just how easily I was influenced by a TV ad so I’m going to guess that was the first time I felt the horrid aftertaste of aspartame.

Appropriate reaction to first time tasting artificial sweeteners // “Yucky Tongue” by Clover_1 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Academic Achievement Of Adoptees

Studies have shown adopted children out perform their non-adopted peers in academics. This despite the fact that adoptees are more likely to have additional barriers like abuse, language differences, fetal drug exposure. But most likely the adopted parents are better economically placed to help with their children’s education and are taking a more systematic role to their responsibility rather than just taking for granted. And so on average the adopted children are able to overcome their adverse circumstances to do better than average.

They say lead by example. And that moment of seeing R celebrate outs was a reminder of how much children are influenced by what they see. And R is only two and a half. So not only do we have to be aware of how much they are learning from their environment and from us. But also we need to be aware of how early they start learning. So let’s all work towards being better people. Because that more than anything else will determine the values our children will adopt from us.