Your parenting sucks!

I was reading Fark at work and came across this article:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-st...add-up-or-spell-survey-finds-115875-23712794/

After explaining how the children couldn't add or spell or whatever, the article states:

So, if you think that if your kid is dumb, shouldn't you make an effort to help them?

If you want your kids to be successful and get out of the house and get a job and be able to afford to put you in a nice home when you get old, you need to find the time to help them with their homework!

Many start school and have to be taught how to use a knife and fork - teachers start them off on spoons. Social skills too need to be encouraged by parents, teaching them how to look objectively and consider options when making decisions. Not that I can talk. Mine is 30 and is still not totaly domesticated. Guess I taught him my poor organisational skills.

I could read at a 2-3rd grade level before kindergarten. Though I think I'm reasonably smart, it wasn't because I was a genius. It was because my mom was a stay at home mom and worked hard to teach me.

My dad taught me. Oh how sick he was of 'The Billy Goats Gruff' - I would pick out words and read along with him - but he always did the clippety clop bit over the bridge. Quality time isnt it.

I was a working mom but always found the time at night to read to and with my kids. My daughter seemed more the beneficiary of that ritual than my son. When it was brought to my attention that he was lagging behind in reading towards the end of 1st grade, I bought one of those very expensive "teach your child to read" kits and brought him up to speed in no time. Well worth the time and money investment.

I'm reminded of a clip from Niel deGrasse Tyson about how children are not the problem

"You say you're worried about kids.. I'm not worried about kids, I'm worried about grown ups. These are the ones that vote. These are the ones who tell you the world is coming to an end in 2012. Kids don't say that, grown ups do. I'm worried about grown ups who say 'read my horoscope, tell me whether I'll find money tomorrow.' Grown ups say this, not children. Children do not read horoscopes, children are perfectly happy counting through the number 13. Children are not afraid to walk under ladders. They see a black cat cross their path, they say 'oh kitty kitty,' they want to pet it, not run in the other direction. Children are not the problem here. Plus, kids are born curious, they're always exploring. We spend the first year of their lives teaching them how to walk and talk, and the rest of their lives tell them to shut up and sit down."

and to quote Jacque Fresco from 3:18 to 3:54 in the video "are we educated yet"
"...You give children cinderella, artificiality, and you tell them to be honest, you always tell children to be honest. And they say 'where do babies come from' - 'the stork brings the baby' - that's a lie. Then you, as the kids say 'daddy, does santa claus climb down every chimney, you say 'yes' - that's a lie. And so we lie to kids and then we tell them to be honest, you know, we lie about everything, almost everything. That's the kind of world we live in, it's so full of shit."

There's another quote from Jacque about parenting, but I can't remember what it is, or which video it's from.

Sometimes in daily life one comes across feral little sods making life horrible for others. I often think - their parents should be forced to live with them. Board up the windows and let them live with the problems they have created.
On the reading bit - my sons are dyslexic, so trying was torture - but try I did - the kits and posters, sitting down with books - and all the while I knew it was a horrible chore for them to try, and the more of a horrible chore it was doing it, the less they would love to read. I wasnt being a good parent I thought, because I kept on trying in the ways my dad taught me, but I must be getting it wrong. Parenting sometimes leaves one feeling like you are beating yourself up. Youngest has just finished Snuff, which he raced through with glee - a xmas pressie. Got there in the end. Both are bright articulate people.

I agree. Most parents make excuses for why they don't spend more time on their children's education. Then they expect an education system, that's been long broken, to provide all of their children's education. Doesn't work that way. You lose most of their potential before they are old enough for school.

I prioritized hours of reading for my daughter as she grew up, and she was reading, on her own by the time she was four. I also made sure that she was exposed to daily life situations, by taking her along with me on normal, everyday boring life tasks.

How many hours are the 'rents wasting on useless texting, internet crap and mindless entertainment?
Seems to me you can always find 10 or 15 minutes to read to your kid each day. I do.

And you'd think these things might not be such a necessity in education (and in raising children since it's apparently so easy) but these are clearly very different social and economic times than just a generation ago. One need not pore through labor statistics to see that in terms of time, the average person is a worker before all else. It's unfortunate and unfair to the kids but there's way more broken here than the average parents concern for their child's education.

I love to read. I would probably rather sit quietly in a corner with a good book and a cold beer than just about anything else. I love reading to my children. My eldest (7.5 yo) is a pretty voracious reader too. His 5.5yo brother can write letters, and wants to read but isn't there yet. He starts school next week. I'm expecting (like his brother) that he will devour books once he gets the knack.

I'm not a teacher - I don't have a clue *how* to go about teaching them to read, but I do know how to give them an appreciation of the written word. I can also help them with their homework when they bring it home.

They have access to a lot of age appropriate books at home and get stories read to them *every* day.

Did I say how much I love to read?

Yes you do...

This. That's it.

I don't disagree with you Cyn, I simply see larger contributing factors at play here than parental neglect. Some of which were alluded to in my initial post, none of which you've directly responded to. Parents should indeed invest more of their time and effort in their children's studies. Having said that, what exactly don't you agree with?

after a certain age, it doesn't matter what you've taught the child; it's up to the child to actually apply what they've learned.