LanceD

My wife is fluent in sign language from her work with developmentally disabled children. She taught our son signing from day one. It definitely helped him to communicate for years as it developed further and faster then speech. Cool thing is now he's 8 and still remembers signs and is interested in learning more. Overall it was a really great, useful and stimulating thing to do.

I see your ooint STer snd its deffinitely a good one. However it leaves us in a weird position. Are these people responsible adults behaving badly or helpless victims further suffering from crimes committed against them? I would say they are equal parts of both, yet where does that leave us in regard to holding them responsible for their actions? Are the responsible adults committing g acts of abuse they should be held accountable for? Are they simply helplessly doomed to repeat crimes committed against them and should be sympathized with? And if its the first, then what other behaviors can we excuse people for because they had a bad childhood? Assault, murder, rape, child molestation? I lean towards holding any adult responsible regardless of where they come from. However I admit it may not be the best way, should I see this differently?

Seems fine to me. I don't personally use it, even though we have a particularly energetic and persistent boy, and neither does my wife but I can see its value. Some people just don't have the patience to discuss every answer, particularly the same answer to repeat questions, and this gives them a tool that the child understands and allows the parent to quickly navigate a situation that could result in a lost temper. Really since it doesn't involve some sort of bribe, misinformation or authoritarian style response even if its not "the best" it's far from bad or destructive. Though I would encourage someone to spend enough time around a very energetic young boy before judging this method too harshly.

I was more referencing the idea of being understanding of bad parents. If your mother has successfully repaired your relationship who am I to judge? However you seem to be using her as an example by which we can be more forgiving and understanding to parents currently doing a poor job, and that I find disturbing.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not gonna make those decisions for him. I don't let him get programmed by the government, but a super hero he knows is a complete fairy take doesn't bother me. Now when boy scours tried to get him to do the pledge of allegiance, that was a totally different matter!

I'm sorry but as a parent myself this post is rather disturbing to me. Any rational, humble person should know that they are not perfect and that when they are going to do something they haven't done before they should first attempt to learn how to do it. Your parents understood that they first needed to learn to drive before buying a car, yet they didn't first need to learn to be a parent before having a child?!My son is 8 and his childhood began with me assuming the typical role of the authoritarian father, including the occasional spanking.. Through self examination, a drive to learn and a deep love for my child I have since changed this behavior and fully adopted peaceful parenting, and I'm now reaping the rewards because my son is quickly becoming an awesome person. Yet I still carry the guilt associated with the past ways I have wronged my son. If I had continued on along my path would that be okay? I mean I deal with all the same stresses as everyone else and iI was given a shitty example on parenting by my own parents. So my initial ideas on parenting were hardly my fault. Yet based on what you seem to be saying I should have been understood and forgiven and only expected to apologize after the fact? That doesn't make any sense and only serves to excuse people from their own faults and willfull ignorance. In this age of the Internet it's incredibly easy to access countless hours if educational material on being a good parent, the only way one can continue on the path they are on is by making a conscious decision to do so! So while I would understand a more forgiving attitude being granted towards generations past, assuming the person shows honest guilt and attempts to reconcile, because they didn't know any better. Any parent raising their child in the modern age has absolutely no excuse for being a crappy parent. Get your shit together, stop thinking your children are there for you and do right by then because they deserve it. Anything less is inexcusable and one of the worst crimes perpetrated in our society.

Speaking from experience as a parent I have to say that the entire premise you're basing these opinions on is nonsense. My son is 7 and he has watched and heard a lot of fantasy and real stuff. When he was younger he would ask things or make comments that would start conversations about these stories and we would discuss what was real and what was not. These discussions along with many other chats we've had and questions we've answered have given him the ability to distinguish the difference, or at least be unsure enough to ask one of us to confirm ot deny his doubts. He is well aware cars, fish, lions, zebras and hippos don't really talk or dance. He knows when I show him CG models of the solar system on the pc that the things it's showing really exist, but the "pictures" aren't real. None of this is harmful, and while my evidence is purely anecdotal, I believe it's beneficial in at least two ways. One, being exposed to fantasy spurs his imagination! He knows Captain America isn't real but he gets hours of entertainment out of putting on his costume and doing "battle" with the dogs. He spends countless hours just playing with a few toys and a deep imagination that's fueled by all these fantasies he then turns into things completely his own. Creativity is a good and wonderful thing, and everything humans have ever created has come from the imagination why the hell would you not want to feed and nurture it?! The second benefit is critical thinking. Drake, my son, is learning to decide for himself what is real and what is not. He knows not to believe everything he sees and heard and instead considers whether or not he thinks it may be true, he even does this to things me and his mother tell him! I think this is wonderful, when his friends tell him about God he figured out on his own it was bunk. I think this logic would lead to a very dull and dry childhood that sucks the fun and creativity out of your children.

I'm sorry that your mother is so self centered that instead of writing to you and trying to improve the situation she instead comes at you trying to guilt you into giving her what she wants. The letter shows zero interest in how you are thinking or feeling and only shows an intent to guilt you into acting in a manner that will make her feel better. She obviously expects to have a relationship with you where she holds the power, similar to when you were a very young child and had no choice but to "love" her. The latter makes her appear to only want to improve the relationship you in a manner that suits her, namely you giving up on anything that could separate you two and returning to "those that love you". Lastly the fact that she won't directly state that she loves you weirds me out and just makes me think something even more serious is wrong here. I don't think it's necessary to further point out all the issues I have with your mother's letter so instead I will try and give you advice that helped me deal with a remarkably similar issue. Taking time to be away from the situation is very useful, so continue it! Living your own life and gaining more self knowledge, as well as taking time to process your issues with the aid of a therapist should be extremely helpful. Once I had time apart from my mother and enough time to realize and understand the trauma and issues I had experienced I gained a much better vantage point from which to view my mother's behavior. This really helped me better understand both myself and the relationship and see exactly how unhealthy for me it really was! So I think with time apart and a better perspective you yourself will have a much easier time judging situations like this and managing a potential repairing of the relationship with your mother, or the very real possibility that you may need to cut them out entirely. I wish you much luck in this endeavor and my deepest apologies that you have to go through this. Hopefully I am wrong about your mother and that with a little bit more time she will write you again and this time show an actual interest in her son and how he feels, but until then I would stay away.

Did you ever consider that video games aren't a bad thing? We want our kids to find things they are passionate about and enjoy doing, well what's wrong with that thing being video games? Society has pushed this idea that video games are brain rotting activities that waste valuable time that could be done doing more "productive" things, yet video games can be very good for you and even make you smarter. Here is an article about a study showing Starcraft makes you a faster thinker: http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/23/4652518/starcraft-makes-you-smarter-claims-research Another showing First Person Shooters improve eyesight: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/good-news-for-gamers-video-games-can-improve-your-eyesight/ And a summary and discussion of studies involving video games potential to improve Perception and Cognition: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3171788/ Obviously there should be some moderation involved but I would try and avoid the assumption that video games are inherently a waste of time, particularly if you take the time to identify good educational games that can not only entertain but enlighten and train the brain. On another note, this statement makes absolutely zero sense. Playing video games and feeding that passion will totally play a part in eventually being able to work for a video game company. There is more to it, but you act like playing games is somehow hurting his ability to eventually have a video game related career and that's kind of absurd.

Well through my disgust at the book and it's contents I missed a key part, the woman mentioned in the title is a member of government. So I actually have to change my stance, she has no business telling Amazon to ban the book. I thought at first it was just a person in the media or advocate group, however the government has no business telling Amazon what books they can and cannot sell.

It's so sad that since the 60's the welfare state has completely destroyed American Blacks as a group. Every bad neighborhood in the country is a welfare neighborhood and they are primarily black. It's just a sad state of affairs. If you are interested in looking more at the subject of the welfare states effects on the black community check out the Documentary "Runaway Slave", you can stream it off Netflix and probably other similar services.

I am currently having similar experiences with my 7 year old boy. We live in Tennessee which has a lot if Christians and the home school coop we participate in is also heavily populated with Christians. Through my sons learning experiences he has found out a lot about the universe and how it was made, this is a topic he has been very interested in and was sparked by an episode of "The Magic School Bus" he watched. This has led to him entering little debates with other kids he is around where somehow the topic comes up and my son tries to explain that stars are made from gasses and the other kids try and tell him they were made by God. These "debates" usually don't go well because they aren't handled well by kids. The approach my wife and I have tried to take is explaining to him why the way he says things comes off as rude, this rolls into other things as well as children don't pay much attention to how they say things. We've also tried to explain that some people believe in God, and that while we disagree it is not an excuse to be mean to them. He had to be able to get along with people who hold different beliefs and it isn't necessary for him to explain to everyone that they are wrong. Lastly we've encouraged him to avoid the topic of God in general and given him things he can say to avoid the topic. It's been an on going topic of discussion and regular negotiation. The "problem" of him poorly handling these situations isn't being solved quickly but it's started important talks on much more then just the topic of God, but also how to better treat others in conversation and acknowledging that others believe differently and it isn't necessary to force your beliefs on them.

It sounds like you need counseling. A good counselor will be able to talk you through your guilt from past actions as well as help you better process your "past wicked feelings" and decide if a confrontation with your parents would actually benefit you. Stefan has a podcast dedicated to how to find a good counselor somewhere in the archives, it was mentioned in the most recent call in show. So I would first track down that podcast, listen to it and invest in getting some help. In my own personal life I have had two separate experiences with parental confrontations, my parents divorced and grew in different directions so 1 on 1 discussions with them resulted in two entirely different experiences. My father was very receptive and expressed his own feelings of guilt and regret while my mother just gets angry whenever her parenting style is questioned. In reflection, while the confrontation with my father was overall a positive experience and has allowed us to continue to have a good, positive relationship. I don't feel any confrontation with my mother is worth the pain caused, absolutely no good will ever come of it and all that will come of it is hurt. So before any confrontation with your parents I would suggest you act them out in your head. If you just go with your instincts you should be able to predict their reactions rather well, after all children are excellent emulators of their parents! If you feel that the discussions may go well and could possibly open the door to true reconciliation then maybe an actual talk with your parents would be worth while, but if you don't then you may need to simply cut them out of your life and move forward without them. One last thing I forgot to address, you mention a desire to discuss what happened to you guys with your sibling. I would think this is a great idea, it will allow you both to process your experiences together and give you an opportunity to reconcile with him and make up for your past behavior that you feel was wrong.

Wow that was really hard to read there near the end. What really makes this even more depressing is to know that regardless of the book many people are already doing this stuff. On the topic in the title, I do hope Amazon refuses to sell a child abuse manual.

There is more to it. Basically the fed is propping up the financial sector and both government and Wall Street profit. Through Quantitative Easing the Fed is buying bank assets and treasuries to maintain their value. The banks then use the money to buy Treasuries who's value js increased by fed buying and thus funds government debt. This also allows the banks to continue to invest in other markets and loan money, thus propping up the financial sector. However once you consider fractional banking you realize how scary this practice is. Banks are allowed to leverage their assets for 10x their actual value. So a bank that has balanced books is actually considerably over leveraged and even the slightest reduction in value of their assets would send them plunging into insolvency. This creates a situation in which the Fed absolutely has to continue to pour money into these banks to keep them afloat, and simultaneously making them rich and inflating our government out a debt. It's a vicious cycle that will only end with an inflationary depression and complete destruction of the currency.

The better question is, why do you think maternity insurance exists? Insurance is to protect you from excessive risk, choosing to have a child is not risk. Then again any medical insurance above policies designed to protect against catastrophic illness/accidents is breaking the rules of insurance.

The obvious solution is just to replace Maduro with someone more capable. The problem couldn't possibly be too much government, just poorly run government.

I would disagree, the actual story and characters of Atlas Shrugged are quite good in my opinion. The problems the book has as far as entertainment value are directly caused by what happened when "The Fountainhead" was released. The book very popular with readers but most of the audience missed the philosophy in the book and instead concentrated on the characters and story. This irritated Rand because the philosophy was what mattered to her, so she made sure to cram it into Atlas Shrugged and lay it out in a manner that could not be missed by any reader. Back on Topic, I love VICE because they cover a lot of really nutty shit that no one else will touch. The authors lean left but I don't care, I don't go there to get my politics so what's it matter? There are way too many incredible videos showing Shane Smith and others out in crazy places seeing things I'd never see any other way. Ignoring what they are doing just based on political bias is limiting what you can be exposed too.

It's pretty simple. Everything in China is the way it is because the government created it. They have an all powerful communist government that runs everything, how exactly is more government going to solve their problem?

Thank you for making my point perfectly. You automatically assume because I use the word Agnostic that I am unsure of the existence of a deity. I'm well aware that there isn't some all powerful being getting disappointed in me every time I masturbate. However the lack of a god does not mean that this reality is all there is to the universe. So I think we need a new word, one that means "i'm an open minded spiritual explorer who has checked his ego enough to know he doesn't know the answer." Also as a side note, Dawkins believes in Atheism like Christians believe in Christ. I'm very suspect of anything said by anyone with a belief.

Vice: The Best Little Hell House in Texas Just read this and it's incredibly depressing. Just wanted to share it and see if it wouldn't get a discussion started.

I love #5, reminds me of Ghengis Khan and the Mongols. They were remarkably open and accepting of all religious beliefs, however it wasn't a matter of them believing in some kind of equality or freedom. It was simply a matter of them wanting to cover all of their bases and make sure that whichever God was real they had someone praying to it so they wouldn't cause them any problems.

I think the problem here is a lack of proper terminology. People think Agnostic means you are just unsure of your faith in one of the classic religions. Then the term Atheist is certain that God does not exist. So where does that leave a person like me? I am sure that all of our organized religions are absolute nonsense and the only real value they offer to me is a study of human behavior. However as far as i'm concerned Atheism is just as nonsensical and ignorant, how the hell do you know anything for sure? I'm an explorer who's mind is open to possibilities and knows that with our extremely limited knowledge there is very little we can be certain of. What do you call me? Well the closest and typically easiest thing to say when someone asks is "I'm Agnostic".

Well now it sounds like you are talking about things people want, not things they need. The necessities, food, water and shelter are relatively easy for communities to provide for themselves. These are the things that have the real potential to start conflicts, yet a society reasonable enough to exist without a state would not have issue assuring these things are provided. The other things, the wants and things we use to bring ourselves technology and comfort are another matter. Even if shortages of one thing or another occur the free market is very good at providing a supply for a demand. Whether its a new source for said resource, a replacement for it or a new technology that eliminates its need. Lastly, in your question you asked what would I do. Posing the dilemma to me as if I was the leader of a nation or other group of people. Well if we are discussing what would happen in a free society my response would be, who the hell cares what one man would do! A free society would not empower one man to make such a decision and steal resources from those around him in order to back his decision with the force of arms. A free society would have a million people with a million opinions all worried about different things!

How would it be possible for me to find myself in a situation where I have only one option for where to get a necessity? A free society would create more opportunity for how and where to acquire what you need. Do you really think food, water or energy will be monopolized in such a society?