Personally, I think kids are pretty neat even when they're doing banal things (mostly laughing until they fall over or giving precocious answers to questions about what they would ask the president if they met him). But these kids are especially neat.
Pretty Boy Bam Bam is a 5-year-old boxer. David tells me that his skills will, as the saying goes, pay the bills. Also, the kid raps and is adorable.
Moshe Kai Cavalin is a 10-year-old in college. He wants to study astrophysics. Especially worm holes. "Science" is not a concept I generally attempt to understand, but I have been led to believe that this is quite advanced. I'm glad there was not a ten year old in my physics class.
And Connie:
Possibly not a child prodigy--she's a reasonably good singer for a six year old, but it's no astrophysics--but she's SO cute, and I pretty much cry every time I watch this video.
Let's hear it for the kids.
28 May 2008
13 May 2008
Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
My Developmental Psych class was visited yesterday by a kindergarten class so we could observe their play. As we began our observation from behind a two-way mirror, the kids' teacher offered some thoughts on child development and the developmental situation of end-of-the-year kindergarteners.
She shared some stories about parents with concerns about their children (well, their boys) taking gender flexible play roles, especially at the play kitchen station, which we all responded to with the proper slightly derisive laughter, chortling at the silly narrow-minded parents.
But then she said this: "The parents shouldn't be worried. The kids at this age don't really see gender anyway; they all just play together."
I looked into the playroom, where there were six little girls among 11 boys. Of those girls, four were wearing pink, one purple, and one a red shirt and a skort. One played by herself with a pirate ship. One played by herself at the make-believe grocery store. The other four alternated between playing princesses at the costumes, and playing with the doll house.
David directed me to comments from Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings an NPR story about kids who are challenging their given gender identity. The whole post is fantastic, so read it, but there's one bit that's just heart-wrenching. Early elementary-schooler Bradley wants to identify as female. His psychiatrist suggests that his parents socialize him as a male. He tries hard, giving up his Barbies and Polly Pockets.
But...
"He really struggles with the color pink. He really struggles with the color pink. He can't even really look at pink," Carol says. "He's like an addict. He's like, 'Mommy, don't take me there! Close my eyes! Cover my eyes! I can't see that stuff; it's all pink!'"
As the kids were playing, two boys sitting next to me were making a Lego house.
"I don't know how to make this," one said.
"Ask her." His playmate pointed at me.
The first boy looked at me, then back to his friend. "She doesn't know."
Kids see gender.
She shared some stories about parents with concerns about their children (well, their boys) taking gender flexible play roles, especially at the play kitchen station, which we all responded to with the proper slightly derisive laughter, chortling at the silly narrow-minded parents.
But then she said this: "The parents shouldn't be worried. The kids at this age don't really see gender anyway; they all just play together."
I looked into the playroom, where there were six little girls among 11 boys. Of those girls, four were wearing pink, one purple, and one a red shirt and a skort. One played by herself with a pirate ship. One played by herself at the make-believe grocery store. The other four alternated between playing princesses at the costumes, and playing with the doll house.
David directed me to comments from Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings an NPR story about kids who are challenging their given gender identity. The whole post is fantastic, so read it, but there's one bit that's just heart-wrenching. Early elementary-schooler Bradley wants to identify as female. His psychiatrist suggests that his parents socialize him as a male. He tries hard, giving up his Barbies and Polly Pockets.
But...
"He really struggles with the color pink. He really struggles with the color pink. He can't even really look at pink," Carol says. "He's like an addict. He's like, 'Mommy, don't take me there! Close my eyes! Cover my eyes! I can't see that stuff; it's all pink!'"
As the kids were playing, two boys sitting next to me were making a Lego house.
"I don't know how to make this," one said.
"Ask her." His playmate pointed at me.
The first boy looked at me, then back to his friend. "She doesn't know."
Kids see gender.
07 May 2008
Baby White Naped Mangabey
Ooooohhhhhh yessssssss.
Enumerating the cuteness:
- 0:19 GIANT EYES
- 0:30 Thumb suck
- 0:40 Flop
- 0:47 Teddy bear cuddle
- 1:05 Thumb suck with teddy bear cuddle (Oh god, can it be!)
Conchita is also the star of the most adorable monkey picture I have ever seen:
EEEEEEEEEEEE.
06 May 2008
Smart babies
Kids hate dumb people. That's the gist of this article by Susan A.J. Birch, et al. I find that mildly surprising, as kids also tend to find stupid things hilarious, but this is science, and I will not doubt it.
Actually, it's not that surprising. Recent studies have shown that young kids and even babies show social intelligence, and are able to assess motives and intentions from a very early age. Debra van Ausdale and Joe R. Feagin wrote The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism, wherein van Ausdale's fieldwork in a multiracial preschool showed that even 3- and 4-year-olds were competent with racial terminology, including slurs, and that they learned this language not by parroting a bigoted adult, but by observing the social inequalities and public narratives that made that language "make sense".
Birch, et al., write: "[Children] are more likely to learn new words [...] and new object functions [...] from someone who has been accurate in the past than from someone who showed signs of incompetence." "Incompetence" was shown by puppets who tried to tell 3- to 4-year-olds that you tie your shoe with a spoon, for example. Fascinating.
Other smart babies:
Actually, it's not that surprising. Recent studies have shown that young kids and even babies show social intelligence, and are able to assess motives and intentions from a very early age. Debra van Ausdale and Joe R. Feagin wrote The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism, wherein van Ausdale's fieldwork in a multiracial preschool showed that even 3- and 4-year-olds were competent with racial terminology, including slurs, and that they learned this language not by parroting a bigoted adult, but by observing the social inequalities and public narratives that made that language "make sense".
Birch, et al., write: "[Children] are more likely to learn new words [...] and new object functions [...] from someone who has been accurate in the past than from someone who showed signs of incompetence." "Incompetence" was shown by puppets who tried to tell 3- to 4-year-olds that you tie your shoe with a spoon, for example. Fascinating.
Other smart babies:
01 May 2008
And you thought baby humans were cute.
In the interest of interspecies relations, we now present you with the latest in audio-visual juvenile fauna field study. AKA youtube videos of cute baby animals.
Let's start with sea life. These baby belugas are hungry. And cute.
Apparently baby giraffes= kind of crazy.
This is a video of Imani, a baby hippo born last year in the Antwerp Zoo. It's over 5 minutes long, but TOTALLY worth it. My favorite parts are the trippy music, when Imani chews on the floor, when she goes swimming...pretty much the whole thing.
Inevitably, all ruminations on cute baby animals must come around to pandas. This video, though short, has both baby pandas and a slide. What more could you ask for? That's right: nothing.
Let's start with sea life. These baby belugas are hungry. And cute.
Apparently baby giraffes= kind of crazy.
This is a video of Imani, a baby hippo born last year in the Antwerp Zoo. It's over 5 minutes long, but TOTALLY worth it. My favorite parts are the trippy music, when Imani chews on the floor, when she goes swimming...pretty much the whole thing.
Inevitably, all ruminations on cute baby animals must come around to pandas. This video, though short, has both baby pandas and a slide. What more could you ask for? That's right: nothing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)