Tuesday
Nov082011
Math Sucks! (...if it requires you to balance shaming equations)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
I came across a post today that I really enjoyed. On the Camp Creek Blog, Lori wrote:
She continued by explaining why the billboard bothers her:
I absolutely agree. I hate campaigns that attempt to shame people for their choices or their actions. I've written about this before as it relates to parents' use of technology and as it relates to breastfeeding promotion and drunk driving ads. Simply telling people what to do without understanding why they aren't doing those things and without providing support to help them do those things is only going to create anger and resentment.
I think it is important to give kids plenty of opportunities to play outside and to foster a love of nature by engaging in outdoor activities with them. I also think that there are a lot of kids who spend too much time in front of the television and video games. However, I don't think that setting up this type of good/bad equation is going to make kids suddenly turn off their video games and go outside.
The same logic applies to so many other things. Put the important/healthy thing on one side and the fun/delicious thing on opposite ends of the spectrum and you're sure to teach your child to hate the important/healthy thing because you know that they love the fun/delicious thing.
There are so many enjoyable things in life. Some may be healthier than others when looked at in isolation and held up for an objective comparison. But life isn't about trying to pack in as much healthy as we can. Life is about living. Enjoying a variety of different things is what makes life worth living.
If we act like we have to give up the things on the right in favour of the things on the left, we are going to make ourselves miserable. But if we give ourselves permission to have both the things on the left and the right and to enjoy them all, we're more likely to be happy and successful.
Balancing shaming equations is not so fun. Doing math outdoors with chalk...now that's awesome!
Image credit: stuartpilbrow on flickr
There’s a billboard in my town that makes me grind my teeth into dust. It shows a kid’s hands holding, on the left, a video-game controller and, on the right, a turtle. Then it says something along the lines of “unplug”.
She continued by explaining why the billboard bothers her:
The whole either/or mentality is what gets to me. By positing the game controller against the turtle, the message is “video games: bad, playing outside: good.” Why isn’t this a good way to get kids outdoors? Because if they reject the left side of that equation, they may automatically reject the right side. This kind of shaming argument runs a serious risk of turning kids off the outdoors.
I absolutely agree. I hate campaigns that attempt to shame people for their choices or their actions. I've written about this before as it relates to parents' use of technology and as it relates to breastfeeding promotion and drunk driving ads. Simply telling people what to do without understanding why they aren't doing those things and without providing support to help them do those things is only going to create anger and resentment.
I think it is important to give kids plenty of opportunities to play outside and to foster a love of nature by engaging in outdoor activities with them. I also think that there are a lot of kids who spend too much time in front of the television and video games. However, I don't think that setting up this type of good/bad equation is going to make kids suddenly turn off their video games and go outside.
The same logic applies to so many other things. Put the important/healthy thing on one side and the fun/delicious thing on opposite ends of the spectrum and you're sure to teach your child to hate the important/healthy thing because you know that they love the fun/delicious thing.
- Math vs. Recess
- Broccoli vs. Chocolate
- Reading vs. Lego
- Kale Smoothie vs. Lemonade
- Volunteering vs. Going to a Movie
- Hiking vs. Nintendo
- Carrots vs. Cupcakes
There are so many enjoyable things in life. Some may be healthier than others when looked at in isolation and held up for an objective comparison. But life isn't about trying to pack in as much healthy as we can. Life is about living. Enjoying a variety of different things is what makes life worth living.
If we act like we have to give up the things on the right in favour of the things on the left, we are going to make ourselves miserable. But if we give ourselves permission to have both the things on the left and the right and to enjoy them all, we're more likely to be happy and successful.
Balancing shaming equations is not so fun. Doing math outdoors with chalk...now that's awesome!
Image credit: stuartpilbrow on flickr
Reader Comments (15)
I agree entirely! The notion of these black and white, either/or dichotomies serve no useful purpose. And is going outside and forcing our will on smaller creatures really the optimal expression of what kids could be doing? "That's cool! Now I'm gonna' go pick it up and play with it and move it around and just generally terrorize it for a bit!" (I'm only sort of kidding).
So true! When I was first diagnosed with celiac andhad to start a gluten free diet, the best advice I received was "focus on what you CAN eat, not what you can't".
If you focus on what you can't (or shouldn't) do, it's easy to start obsessing about it.
Just thought of another thing! If you watch Canada's Worst Driver, you'll be familiar with the concept of "look where you want to go". When driving, people tend to fixate on the obstacle they want to avoid, which leads them to hit it rather than drive around it. I think the principle applies rather broadly to life.
If "where you want to go" is outdoors, focussing on video games isn't going to accomplish that!
"But life isn’t about trying to pack in as much healthy as we can." <-- this is lovely. And you can sub in the word perfect for healthy. When it comes to parenting, I often find myself putting things on one side or other of a good/bad scale. Trying to ensure the "perfect balance"... More me time=less kid time. More tv=fewer games. More structured activities=less unstructured play. But there's so much to be said for following the child & going with your gut, not just what you think *should be* the perfect balance.. Sometimes you just NEED to take 30 minutes & decompress in front of the computer. Sometimes kids WANT to be in a scheduled activity/sport.
It's interesting that this article, then your post came to me today, because I just wrote about technology, and "nature deficit disorder" & how I really wanted to be sure my kids WERE getting enough nature; a good tech-earth balance. But yet, as I wrote about our recent experience of experiencing nature *without* our familiar technology... I found myself - even if not so much in writing, but in intent - putting nature & technology on two ends of the spectrum. Good/Bad. More/Less. The Good Ol Days/The Present. http://www.kellynaturally.com/post/Nature-Technology-and-Being-Human.aspx
Good food for thought Annie & Lori; thank you!
I love this.
I had never actually thought of it this way before, but now that I have: I really, really love this.
Late last year I drew a hopscotch type thing that looked a bit like a calculator to help my 6 yr old learn her basic sums. She loved jumping from number to number and working out the answer. Just another way to make math fun and get outside at the same time.
This is a great way of looking at things. I have a tendency to do it with food, along the lines of "if you eat your broccoli, then you can have a treat" - and I realise it's foolish of me to do that. Right now, my toddler loves broccoli and vegetables - they're some of his favourite foods. But if I keep making those comparisons and trade-offs, I'm liable to change his thinking about them.
Food for thought, eh?! :)
Exxellent point! Balance and moderation is what we should strive for.
And - math goes really well with recess! I wonder how many other seeming dichotomies would work well together too.
A Very Good Point.
I say this as my daughter's math lesson from her great teacher today is playing board games to learn logic and strategy. I want my kids to play outside, to appreciate the natural world and to know how to use walking as a means of transportation. I also want them to learn how to use a mouse, search engines, a keyboard and other tools that will be both useful and fun for their whole lives. I do not like the demonization of technology and the modern world. Perhaps 100 years ago my children would have been more connected with nature (maybe if they didn't live in the city) but they'd be going to the bathroom outside and be risking death with every infection...
I often wondered why some billboards made me angry but I never really focused on the info long enough to figure it out...that being said, we are bombarded with these "signs" touting good vs bad. Unfortunately, life is not all black and white... we must find a balance and we must model and teach our children about balance.
Making choices is not always between a video game and a turtle they are much more subtle...it is this that we should be teaching...our children need to learn how to tease out the grays in their decision making...but first we as parents need to be able to do that.
Thanks for this post...sometimes I need someone to point out the everyday things that effect our decisions.
I was going to be critical of your point since I think that many kids need to be outside more, but in the end you're right. Those ads are probably not that effective and it would be better if they were positive. I love the math on the sidewalk picture!
Although I realize such billboards are aimed at shaming parents for allowing their children technological fun, the advertisers forget that children will see these ads as well. This past Saturday (a rainy and cold day here in San Diego) my children and I spent an inordinate amount of time playing Halo on the Xbox, but being the active family we are we later ventured outside to see what the rainfall did to the dry river bed across the street. I just bare in mind that life is for the living and enjoyment can be found in nearly anything. I fully agree a child becoming a hermit playing games alone in their room is very undesirable... so pick up a controller and spend some quality time with them.
I agree wholeheartedly with keeping things in balance - I tend to err a little to the fun side a little too often but get there in the end.
You post title bothers me. Although you attempt to bring it around with a condition on it, the emphasis is on the 'Math sucks!' bit. It just reinforces the negative attitude towards mathematics which, teamed with the fact that you are female and writing - I presume - primarily for a female audience, is very frustrating. I only ever seem to see this negativity (joking or not) in articles written by women and it is a pet hate of mine (that said, most of the things I read are written by women so my experience may be skewed) . I have spent my life fighting 'girls are bad at math' and 'math sucks'. Maths isn't hard if you go into it with an open mind and pay attention (hard to do when you've been told all your life that 'maths is hard', 'maths sucks', 'girls are no good at maths'). Maths is actually quite beautiful and worth spending time on.
Absolutely agree. Balance is always what we should strive for, not complete shunning of any one thing.
I couldn't agree more. And I think that we, as both parents, and individuals, should try to find ways to blur that false dichotomy. Your example of doing math in chalk out in the sun is a really terrific example. We won't be able to do it all the time, of course, but I think creativity like that helps us stay more in the moment, and more satisfied overall.
Thanks so very much for this post!!