observations – Sillyfrog's Blog

Sunday Dawdle- 1/29/23 Who we are.

Posted on 01/29/202301/29/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

Rory, as usual, has offered a few interesting questions.

Should we fear the arrival of more progressive AI [Artificial Intelligence] or embrace it?

As with most things, cautious fascination is my default.
It’s the same way I approach thunderstorms.
They are wonderous, awe-inspiring, events but shouldn’t be met with careless disregard for their dangerous capability.
Given that…my worry mainly lies with the ‘all for profit’ type of human innovators who time-after-time throw caution to the wind.
A quote from Jurassic Park that fits this well is, “The scientists were so concerned with whether they COULD, they never asked if they SHOULD.”

How much time do you spend sitting each day?

Sometimes a lot (reading or blogging) and sometimes so little (from gardening or doing errands) that my body aches. I guess that balances out over time as a healthy lifestyle.

What is your proudest accomplishment?
[Having Children not included]

Being an excellent childcare provider. I built a wonderful reputation and took my role of inspiring and teaching kids farther than what some might consider “babysitting”.
Kindergarten teachers approached me on a few occasions expressing how well prepared and skilled ‘my kids’ were and knowing new kids each September had spent their ‘tender years’ under my tutelage made them happy. Some family members of ‘my kids’ have also reached out to tell me how pleased they were by what they had noticed the kids had learned. That included manners, life-skills, and being curious.

Are/Were you the youngest, middle, oldest or only child?

I have been interested in ‘birth order’ theory for a long time. Some psychologists believe that one’s birth order plays a crucial role in each of our personalities. The little day care ‘families’ (keep in mind that many of the kids spent more wakeful hours with me than at home) that grew up in my care often scrambled that dynamic by placing ‘oldest’ children in a group where they were the ‘youngest’, and so on.
I was all in on “Birth Order Theory” at one time. And I DO think birth order plays a part in the rate at which kids mature. BUT, after years of my own curious study, I’m now convinced that most of our temperament and natural inclinations come from inborn tendencies. Our DNA has done much of the decision making. I could go on and on about my real-life observations, but I’ll spare you. LOL

I am the oldest child of three. I was also the oldest grandchild on BOTH sides. I got a slathering of attention for sure.

https://earthlycomforts.uk/2023/01/29/a-wild-aloha-to-you-8/

In my humble opinion...

Thinking Isn’t Hard but Speaking Is- Food for Thought

Posted on 10/16/202210/16/2022 by Susan St.Pierre

Have you ever examined how few concepts have true opposites? Except for the colors black and white, with the condition of ‘white’ being the reflection of all color and ‘black’ oppositely absorbing all color, I cannot think of any. Even our concept of the commonly accepted opposites of ‘up’ and ‘down’ is relative. In outer space, there’s no clarity of where ‘up’ or ‘down’ lie.
Yet, nowadays, there are some extremely loud people insisting that we consider most concepts and conditions as binary opposites:

If you question the rate or severity of Climate Change, you’re labeled as a Climate Change ‘denier’.
If you show concern about future unknown side effects or the efficacy of the mRNA ‘vaccines’, you’re an ‘anti-vaxxer’.
If you worry about the growing trend of impressionable children identifying as transgender, it’s suggested (by loudmouths) that you want to deny their existence… or even worse ‘hate’ them.
If you want a secure border, you’re either xenophobic or monstrously insensitive to the plight of migrants.

There are sadly too many more to list, but these are enough to give anyone with the capacity for reason pause.
I want to know why we allow these absurd reductive labels to occupy any adult conversation.

I regret having to say this but that intellectually lazy either/or ‘reasoning’ predominantly is coming from folks who claim to be the smartest and most tolerant. {News Flash- If you need to claim you’re smart and/or tolerant, you probably are neither in practice.}

We most likely can agree that words and phrases can have more than one definition. So, why are so many people defaulting to the idea that ALL “arguments” are something so negative that they need to be avoided? Are they ignorant of the courtroom definition of “A line of reasoning.”?
If Americans truly revere the “scientific method” as the ultimate formula for finding facts and approaching Truth, why is there so much effort being directed toward reducing speech and inquiry?
These are points and questions that I hope all well-meaning people will consider. This post consists of questions and hypotheses rather than statements for a reason. I’m offering an argument as “food for thought” and not at all trying to start an argument. 😉

Reena’s Xploration Challenge #252- Family Day Care: A Curious Adventure

Posted on 10/13/202210/13/2022 by Susan St.Pierre

Family Day Care* was my career choice for many reasons, not least of which, was the revealing nature of small children in group settings. Call me crazy but what many seem to define as a mundane, labor intensive, messy, job, was a fascinating and exhilarating adventure to me. I don’t ever remember not being curious about what makes people ‘tick’. Firsthand observation of ‘raw’ human beings was a golden opportunity and lots of fun.
Babies to Big Kids and girls and boys, all from endlessly variable homelives, made for a study of innocent, intrinsic human nature like no other.
Let me assure you, I have no doubt that boys and girls are different. Their concerns, socializing preferences, and strengths, are not absolutely or universally at odds but, after 46 years of observation, I’m convinced they’re not the same ‘animal’.
May I say, finding this out made me extremely happy because the two genders were obviously created to complement each other… and sometimes to keep each other in ‘check’. I can’t say I haven’t noticed exceptions to the gender tendencies, but those were not game changers, in my opinion.

There’s a thing known as “parallel play”. You can observe this most often in boys. Two boys can build towers of blocks or draw pictures while sitting beside each other never exchanging a word or glance. Men do this too. A father and son could replace a roof working side by side in almost total silence yet, if you asked them about the day, they’d probably tell you they had a great bonding experience.
Girls want feedback. They use language and eye contact far more than boys and feel shunned if they don’t get enough of it.

Girls are far better at manipulation and what I fondly call ’emotional torture’. My four-year-old daughter used to keep a group of larger boys terrorized by telling them mostly untrue things. A number of tearful complaints were about my daughter claiming she’d keep their jacket for herself or wouldn’t come to their birthday party. Those idle yet effective threats would not have as much power if used on other girls.

There are many more differences but those were the first two I thought of that seemed to be constant throughout the years. Keep in mind that these are little kids and as people grow, they become more complex and varied in their responses. I’m reporting my observations of kids at an elementary level because those differences seem instinctive when they represent a 46-year pattern.

So, my life was never dull and endlessly interesting during those day care years and my heart was always full. I would do it all again!

*Family Day Care is the caring for children in your own home. It differs from “baby sitting” by usually being licensed by the state and having a nursery school curriculum, safety trainings, and care with a professional attitude.

https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2022/10/13/reenas-xploration-challenge-252/

In my humble opinion...

Girls will be girls…

Posted on 05/02/201305/02/2013 by Susan St.Pierre

I’ve watched small children for almost 40 years (as a Family Day Care Provider) and there are some “stereotypes” that, I must admit, are true.

Little girls and little boys are definitely “wired” differently.

This post is motivated by my anxiousness about the, soon to happen, summer school vacation. My 7-year-old granddaughter, her 6-year-old (girl) cousin and a 3 1/2-year-old girl, will be in my care every weekday throughout the summer. I am still recovering from the week-long Spring break with this trio.

Throughout my day care years, I was blessed by groups with more boys than girls. Don’t get me wrong, little girls make the better companions when alone. They are much more verbal and enjoy engaging with adults, a bit more. But, put them in a group, and there is competition without limits.

My scientific curiosity, about human behavior, always stems from Nature and, our similarities to animals. Females compete for the reason of propagating the human species. It is simply hard-wired into their nature, in my opinion. This further explains the many girls who find keeping “male friends” much more satisfying and less complicated through their early years. For me, the valuing of female friendships didn’t appear until after I was married with children. The “drama” created by groups of females always detracted from the uncomplicated “rough and tumble” play that I enjoyed most.

Many may feel this post is terribly sexist…to those who think this, I say, “Men and women are different. Instead of ignoring this, I suggest we embrace and value those differences.”

I am speaking from years of experience. Personally, it’s been a life-long study with irrefutable results.

The competitiveness of girls seems to be, grounded in, their superb awareness of non-verbal clues and their delightful social abilities. One example that I remember clearly:

A 4-year-old girl was sitting in a pout over not getting her way. I asked a 4-year-old boy to offer her some apple slices for snack. The girl turned her head away from the offer, since she wasn’t yet over her disappointment. The boy reacted with a shrug and happily kept the extra portion for himself. Then I asked a 3-year-old girl to make the same offer to the “pouter”. (There was “bad blood” between these two girls from other competitive moments but I hoped it might be the first step in getting them to be friendlier with each other.) The 3-year-old, happily offered the girl some apples. Miss Pout rolled her eyes and folded her arms refusing the apples. Without hesitation, the younger girl threw the apple slices in her lap and stormed away.

The boy was not at all insulted…even at 3, the girl who was offering the apples, knew she had been snubbed and, furthermore, took it quite personally.

I find the experiment quite interesting and don’t think a world made, from all of either reaction, would be fun. The boy’s reaction was far easier for me though! The girls battled daily after that and to my distraction.

Of course, these reactions can happen from either sex. Some boys are wound tighter and some girls are not as easily insulted. I am just offering a well-studied norm for your consideration. Actually, being aware of this tendency has allowed me to avoid putting girls “at odds” with each other and has reminded me to offer boys more “How do you think they feel?” moments too.

So my plans for summer are many well thought out activities. There will be well-defined consequences for extreme bickering and rewards for showing good-sportsmanship and sharing. Keeping decisions fewer and options greater may be my only salvation!