tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post8327068170374809057..comments2024-03-28T00:11:33.489-04:00Comments on bensozia: The History of Parenting Advice:Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-66280679788378541812020-10-28T18:19:52.683-04:002020-10-28T18:19:52.683-04:00"Maybe if we keep giving this advice for the ...<i>"Maybe if we keep giving this advice for the next 70 years — that there’s no one way to parent, that kids can thrive in many different situations — it will finally stick."</i><br /><br />It's advice that applies to many things.<br /><br />To quote Carl Sagan, "As if there were only one human nature!"<br /><br />Every baby has different needs. Every child in school has different needs. Every patient visiting a doctor has different needs.<br /><br />No two people have the exact same religious convictions, or the exact same political views, or the exact same philosophical leanings.<br /><br />Human experience is overwhelmingly subjective, even when the underlying reality remains the same. The exact same thing experienced by two different people can result in almost wholly opposite reactions.<br /><br />And yet by and large, we tend to treat our own personal experiences and preferences as if they were somehow universal. And even worse, when we encounter something which substantially differs from our "universal" assumptions, we recoil in shock, fear, and disgust - we interpret that difference as some sort of sign of "otherness", and revile it as "unnatural" or "immoral" or otherwise "wrong".<br /><br />There is a <i>staggering</i> number of people who get legitimately and deeply upset about such utterly inconsequential things as <i>which pizza toppings</i> other people enjoy, and who make insane, vehement, wholly serious condemnations of any preferences that differ too substantially from their own.<br /><br />I think we, the entire human race, need to work a hell of a lot harder to impress upon our children the vital importance of accepting that other people are different, and finding joy and inspiration in that fact, rather than using it as an irrational justification for division, hatred, and even violence.<br /><br />Live and let live! You don't have to like what other people like, you just need to respect them and their choice even if you disagree. If it's not affecting anyone else, what business is it of any else?G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com