Philosophies

In science, it helps to have a general Theory Of Everything to guide one's experiments and reading. Of course, the MODEL OF EVERYTHING responds to variables, new data, and other information by changing.

I've been flipping through a few books on sleep (the Bug has been waking-up-screaming for N months, where N=(our patience+2)). And books on parenting, because they're next to the trains at the library. They are annoying. (The sleeping is getting better.)

The reasons for my annoyance go something like this:

1) If you have a sweeping scientific theory, generally one counterexample is sufficient to upset it. Example: "All Cretans are liars." If one meets a truthful Cretan, it must be amended to "Most Cretans are liars."

2) These parenting books espouse theories that, clearly, have counterexamples. Example: "If your almost-two-year-old is still nursing, he will NEVER EVER go to sleep without nursing and you must wean him from this awful habit immediately."

3) I keep meeting people who espouse theories to the exclusion of dealing with the real world. If your 3-year-old child is throwing a tantrum at the top of the stairs, now is not the time for a discussion of Injuries Requiring Hospitalization. Now is the time to move the child. Likewise, if you are all about reinforcing the positive, if your child is reaching into a moving fan, or sticking a coat hanger into an outlet, now is the time to say NO NO NO.

4) Unified, Universally Applicable Theories of Parenting must, logically, be predicated on a predictable and consistent response to stimuli across children. One's response to Behaviour Category X can be consistent. Children are not consistent.

The book I liked the best so far- although all of its sleep suggestions were utterly useless with Bug- was that No-Cry series, because it has a set of behaviours and then a set of things you can try, rather than a One Size Fixes All. On the other hand... it was useless.

I think I should stop reading parenting books.