Growth Through Stupidity

You know sometimes you just can't win for trying. You know what I mean. You think of something you might like to try and you try it. Sometimes things work out great and you succeed in completing the task at hand and sometimes things do not always work out. You fail. Right? The world did not come to a crashing end and the sun rose again the next day. Right? So when did it become a bad thing for people to fail? When did we enter a world of success at all costs?

I read recently that children only learn through success until about age 6 or so. This is why you see parents making a big deal out of little Bobby when he learns not to pick his nose at the dinner table. The child learns that if he does (or in this case does not) do something, he will get praised for it and learn "Hey look at what happened there! I will have to remember that!" Same goes with tying your shoes, getting dressed properly and going to the potty. After age 6 the brain begins to change and the child learns more through mistakes and failure. Kind of a "Hey, I guess the egg shells don't need to be in the cake batter!" eureka moment. If something does not work, then the child will remember that and try something different the next time.

I guess that's what gets me about the 'helicopter parent' phenomenon. These parents hover about their children, smoothing social bumps, correcting mistakes and removing obstacles that their children encounter. What are these parents teaching their children? The kid learns that if they wait someone will fix the problem. If they make a mistake someone will make it go away. That they can't fail. So basically they learn that they can get away with anything and end up with no skills for coping with problems and obstacles.

When I was young my parents let me figure things out for myself. They made sure I was safe and that I wasn't in any danger of course, the provided advice and encouragement, but they also let me have space to grow. When I went out to play I remember my father saying "Don't do anything stupid." Did I do stupid things? Yep! Did I learn from doing stupid things? Yep! Am I a better and more capable person now because of that? I'd like to think so.

While growing up we all have to learn that there are consequences to our actions. We all have to learn to develop the persistence to try and try again. We have to learn how to deal with life's little problems. Have you heard the old adage about learning from your mistakes? Maybe the reason for this saying is that we really do.

Good News and Bad News

Well, I will give you the bad news first. Kind of like pulling off a band-aid—best to do it fast and it hurts less. It's Ground Hog's Day and it is now official. The rodents have predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Thank heavens for this fool proof weather forecasting system!

What better way to tell what the weather is going to do for the next six weeks, than by yanking a peacefully slumbering rodent out of its den and waving it in front of a bunch of television cameras? Then declaring proudly that (if it is cloudy) spring is coming early or (if it is sunny) six more weeks of winter. What could possibly be wrong with this method? Apparently since weather forecasters are not to be trusted we have collectively decided to put our faith in a rodent. Brilliant!

I'm surprised that the animal rights/protection people have not jumped on this long before now. I mean, here we are (as a society, not us in particular), every year pulling an animal that has nothing to do with weather (and could probably care less), out of its home and using it to predict the weather. At least it is only once a year I guess. I do feel sorry for Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam and Punxsutawney Phil. What did they do to deserve this dubious distinction? Did the whole of the ground hog population get together and declare these three individuals the sacrificial lambs (uh, ground hogs) of the species?

Anyway, that's the bad news—six more weeks of winter. What's the good news you ask? Well go and have a look at your calendar. Now count the number of weeks from now (February 2) until the first day of spring. That's o.k., go ahead, I'll wait.

Yep, the good news is that spring is only six weeks away!

Weather Woes

I know I go on about the fast paced technology driven age we live in a bit. I remember when computers first started to come into wide use. The manufacturers used to tout the paperless office! I don't know about you, but it seems like there is more paper now than there ever was. Technology has done allot of things for us, instant music, MRI machines, heat and lights and lots of other things. The one thing I wish technology would do for us is to produce better forecasts for the weather.

You would think that in a country that is affected by the weather so much, we would be putting more money into getting the forecast right. We can't complain too much I guess. For the most part I know that if I want to go somewhere in a couple of days I can pretty much count on the weather. But at times I wonder if weather forecasters have a big chart on the wall and wherever their dart hits the wall ends up being the weather outlook.

I was at the grocery store yesterday and every second person I knew was talking about the 'big storm' that was coming. When I asked when it was due in, because I hadn't heard about it, they said 'oh, next week." Next Week? Where are these people getting their weather from? Psychics or crystal balls?

Did you know that forecasts are only accurate for the first 24 to 48 hours? That's right. Anything beyond the day after tomorrow is basically useless. If you look at a weather forecast today, for three days from now, you have less than a 50% chance of seeing that forecasted weather on that day. Most people can do better than that by guessing based on a thermometer, a barometer and a weather almanac. When it comes to weather in Canada—just worry about tomorrow, after that anything is possible.