Friday, July 15, 2011

The secret to happier parenting?

So my mom sent an article to my sister, sister-in-law, and I with this as a the subject: "Just an interesting article -- nothing personal directed at anyone!"


After reading it I did a quick search for more information about the author.  I think knowing a bit more about the author provides some context for where they're coming from and what sort of credibility they may have.

The author, 40 year old Bryan Caplan, describes himself as  "An openly nerdy man who loves role-playing games and graphic novels, I live in Oakton, Virginia, with my wife and three sons."  His children are eight-year-old identical twins and a baby. 

The article makes a good point about not trying to overachieve in a sense or do too much with one's children.  I suspect however that Bryan's experience, world views, and goals for his children and family may be different from mine - which is why to him it's no big deal to have his kids watching TV and left with a babysitter.  For my family, we feel that leaving children to watch TV shows which don't reflect our Christian values is not appropriate.  We are also extremely careful about the people we leave our kids with, as we believe protecting them spiritually is just as important as protecting them physically.

So... that's me, making a mountain out of a molehill... now you know why my mom would put that disclaimer in her subject line!

What about you - what do you think about Bryan's article?

3 comments:

  1. I admire your commitment so much.

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  2. aw, thanks :-) I really admire your front porch commitments!!!

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  3. I think that being missionary kids and having parents that really weren't around much and had TV raise us (at least me) we have all chosen to spend more time at home instead of making money, making due on less, so that our kids have their parents around more often. I haven't read the article so I hate to comment on it directly... But I think our kids will appreciate our time we put in in the end more than the Discovery HD package we get...

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