William Grobman

1,436 reputation

419

bio	website
	location	Independence, OR
	age	23
visits	member for	1 year, 8 months
	seen	Feb 22 at 6:21
stats	profile views	66

I'm a husband, father, and mechanical engineering student at Oregon State University. I support:

Breast feeding
Cloth diapering
Cosleeping
Vaccination
Home/charter/private schooling
Non-physical dicipline

	1,436 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	1 year, 8 months
419 badges		location	Independence, OR		seen	Feb 22 at 6:21

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Oct 1	comment	What are the psychological impacts of a split-religion household? @Hendy In regard to "instilling only such things as have been universally established as truth throughout history", I would like to point out that consensus != truth. By way of example, virtually all philosophies teach that altruism is good but there are people who make a good case that it isn't; objectivists even claim it's evil. So I wouldn't think you'll find universally agreed upon 'truths' or that such agreement would even mean it is true.
Oct 1	comment	Why is my newborn crying constantly? My son had a bit of the same trouble. If your wife is a fan of dairy, she can try adding small amounts. Sometimes cheese, butter, yogurt, etc. are easier to digest than straight up milk. In my wife's case, she could eat small quantities of the above without issue.
Sep 21	comment	How do my wife and I stop our son from learning to swear from us? I'm retracting my downvote after the edits.
Sep 21	comment	How do my wife and I stop our son from learning to swear from us? @Beofett, I just didn't want you to think it had to do with our disagreement. This is a valid question but doesn't fit the FAQ guidelines.
Sep 21	comment	How do my wife and I stop our son from learning to swear from us? Nothing personal, Beofett, but this seems like it has nothing to do with parenting and more to do with curbing personal behavior. Voting to close as off topic.
Sep 20	comment	At what age is it safe to have toys in a baby's crib? @Beofett You seem to be confusing unknown and unknowable. Suffocating on toys is not necessarily a known cause; it could happen and be attributed to SIDS (via rebreathing, for instance). There are plenty of things thought to be linked to SIDS (eg., a positional inability to draw breath) and simply naming them doesn't mean they aren't a cause of SIDS. A causual relationship is simply not known.
Sep 20	comment	At what age is it safe to have toys in a baby's crib? @Beofett Hence toys being in a different sentence in my comment and the use of 'potentially'. It's silly to claim that something with an unknown cause is unrelated to a specific activity. More so when that activity could bring about conditions that have a connection with it.
Sep 20	comment	At what age is it safe to have toys in a baby's crib? @Beofett read the source yourself. The second section talks about rebreathing theory (that they suffocate on CO2), stating that such a case is undetectable and therefore a SIDS diagnosis is correct. Toys could, potentially, be a rebreathing suffocation hazard.
Sep 19	comment	How can I help my child handle peer pressure regarding television? @Beofett, I agree with you and that's what I addressed in my last post (and even my answer). One needs to be civil and get on well with social peers, but my social club comments relate to friends directly.
Sep 16	comment	How can I help my child handle peer pressure regarding television? @Beofett allow me to be clear. It's exposure to people, so it's good for learning how to interact. But as simply a random group of kids, it should rarely be a primary friend source. Even in a rural area, activity clubs can still flourish. If the social component of school is a significant part for someone, I would wager that person either was lucky to meet some exceptional people or isn't getting enough out of their education. As a caveat though, I'm very reclusive; quiet happily, my wife is my one friend and that aspect of my answer may not apply to all.
Sep 11	comment	Controlled crying isn't working at night. What are my options? Ask Baby has a description of controlled crying here. Seems similar to my understanding of the Ferber method (though, I confess, I didn't read the entire description).
Sep 9	comment	How can I help my pre-schooler be more confident and assertive in competitive play situations? I can't post a substantially good answer, but as an anecdote, I'm one of the most assertive people I've met and I'll tell you what my parents did. I was always taught to look out for myself above all others and that to me, I should be most important. I was told to be kind to people, but not at my own expense. I really think parenting with this philosophy, whatever the particulars, is how to get confident and assertive children.
Sep 8	comment	As an atheist, how should I explain theism to my children? @Ash Machine I think the confusion is the over-specific nature of the remark; there are not human non-mammals. I don't know if you're a native English speaker, but typically when a sub-set is used, the containing set is not explicitly mentioned.
Sep 7	comment	Is it okay to let a baby cry at bedtime? @Beofett, I may have come off a bit strong too. It's really that this baby is 4 months old that got me going. That's far too young to let them CIO. The reason Ferber is fine is that you're letting the little one know you're there for them; they won't feel abandoned/neglected.
Sep 7	comment	Is it okay to let a baby cry at bedtime? @Beofett, a fair reason to downvote. I didn't notice that particular piece. I don't think the Ferber method is bad at all; it isn't ignoring you child, as you point out.
Sep 7	comment	Is it okay to let a baby cry at bedtime? I realize this will likely get quite a few downvotes. But doing this to a little baby is child abuse. While I wouldn't advocate doing it to older children either, I certainly can respect a difference of opinion there. I'm not dogmatic, but before you disagree, try to justify doing this to a pre-verbal child.
Sep 6	comment	When do kids usually stop believing in Santa Claus? I'm not personally familiar with any religions that claim their deity only exists if you believe. I'm sure some must exist, but if you look at the largest 5-6, which give you about 75-80% of people, that belief is absent to my knowledge.
Sep 4	comment	Are netbooks appropriate for school age children? @nGinius I never said I agree with this program; in fact I think such bribes are the sort of things parents should do. I simply disagree with rewarding poor performance.
Sep 4	comment	As an atheist, how should I explain theism to my children? I'm choosing this as my answer because it addresses all of my concerns. Your point about the literary treatment of these texts was eye opening and something I hadn't thought of before, as I do already dismiss them.
Sep 4	comment	As an atheist, how should I explain theism to my children? The comments aren't really appropriate for a theological discussion. If you wish to talk about it, contact me via gmail. If you can't see it on my profile, it's my first initial, "R", followed by my full name as it appears on this site "@gmail.com". My short answer to your question is that the universe that we see around us is incompatible with the existence of a god. Where I define god as a super-human, super-natural creator that exists outside the laws of our universe.