Recent submissions

Comment · 3 years ago
interesting - one way to test the efficacy of something like this might be to compare median outcomes of adopted kids (whose parents went through some parenting education) with that of the non adopted general population (after controlling for other factors).

Now which PhD candidate will bite :)

Comment · 3 years ago
Here's a thought and I am writing this as I don my kevlar flame retardant jacket.

For most things in life where we could impact the lives of other people materially - driving is a good example - we ensure some minimal amount of training before letting people perform that activity.

However with parenting we have nothing and the result it seems is we pay with a ton more resources downstream in the way of therapy, detention centers, jails etc.

How about some minimal coaching so that all parents are aware of the state of the art in child psychology and techniques to do better as parents. Potentially break the cycles of bad parenting that have been running in families for a long time (I write this as one such person).

I expect it will be hard (nay impossible) to institute a parenting license (like a driving license) in a democratic society. So instead have a strong incentive in the way of a financial grant for every parent who clears a parenting curriculum sometime before their child turns 1 (or some appropriate marker). Keep the freebees /incentives piling on during the kids childhood so parents are motivated to undertake "continuing education"

Parenting is truly important stuff - for many parents it is the most important responsibility we'll ever have in our lives- but we seem to leave it to chance to get the right outcomes.

Comment · 3 years ago
This is a lot easier said than done. I say this from first hand experience. I've been screwed a few times so far and generally managed to make my piece with most of those experiences except the abuse and apathy from my parents
Comment · 4 years ago
Taking responsibility might mean ponying up to give all the affected people additional months of pay / benefits etc. After all he is responsible for a big time disruption to their families

That would be a meaningful way of saying he is sorry as well as setting a precedent for all other billionaires who just "take responsibility" and continue on

Comment · 4 years ago
thanks and do you do that with a friend / colleague. Or do you use some interview prep outfit. I've seen quite a few though its not clear which ones are effective
Comment · 4 years ago
How many times do you rehearse a single answer . I am just curious what it takes for most people
Comment · 5 years ago
thanks for the responses, I should clarify that my challenge is just getting a word in.

It's not so much the speed of talking that is a challenge as that the rest of the group are much quicker to respond or jump in when there is a pause.

Consequently Its very hard to say what I want to say.

Comment · 5 years ago
I had a similar experience with their recruiting. Some interviews were cancelled and had to be rescheduled only after I inquired.

Many weeks to generate offer and paper work and then 24 hrs to accept with a "take or leave it" ultimatum.

Just a very poor taste and I know some fine people who work at Google. Its unfortunate they don't seem to value warmth and humaneness when communicating externally

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