On the subject of the Jewish Holidays, Evangeline and I had a long (long) talk about them recently.

[conuly]

It's a good thing I read a lot, because I spent five minutes just stumbling through the subject of why Rosh Hashanah is two days off but Yom Kippur is not, and why both days of Rosh Hashanah are called Rosh Hashanah instead of having two different names. When that kid gets onto a subject, she doesn't let go! And just when I thought I was done, Ana joined in...!

I have to teach them to do their own research. They'd learn a valuable skill, I'd have more time to myself without worrying I'm about to tragically mislead them, it's win-win all around, don't you think?

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

By all means, as long as you're okay with them doing their own research on subjects they might not want you to know they're researching. Once a kid learns how to use the Google Machine, it's useless to try to contain their curiosity, and sometimes it can be pretty morbid and/or prurient curiosity.

My rule about the computer was simple: read whatever you like, but only communicate with people we know in realtime. Of course, then one must also discuss the differences between smut and erotica, and the ethical implications of assorted varieties of pr0n, and the impracticality/hazards of assorted surprising practices, and the probable Photoshopping of some of the most surprising, and so on. Left to their own devices, kids with a search engine don't spend much time researching Jewish holidays.

The Google machine is a great thing for special interests, though, fer sure. My own kid knows more about Toxic, Bitey And Horrifying Creatures Of The Sea than is good for one's nerves to even hear about, and she's also an amateur expert on poisonous mushrooms.

[pne.livejournal.com]

That also means teaching them to evaluate what they find.

The Internet is full of useful stuff but also full of… less useful stuff. Even when it claims to be useful on the topic of interest.