[Osx-nutters] The separation of church and state.

[LuKreme]

On 4-Dec-2007, at 12:56, Stefano Mori wrote:
> On 2007-Dec-04, at 19:47, LuKreme wrote:
>> On 4-Dec-2007, at 12:27, Stefano Mori wrote:
>>> On 2007-Dec-04, at 19:12, Mark Smith wrote:
>>>> There is nothing other than crap in any of them that is unique to
>>>> them. They are by definition then, full of useless crap. They  
>>>> should
>>>> be dismissed.
>>>
>>> OK, here's a question: how do you teach morality to a 4 year old?
>>
>> My usual method is to point out that they are being selfish (almost
>> all bad behavior can be traced to selfishness, from yelling at your
>> brother to the bad drivers on the highway) and point out that they
>> don't like it when other people are selfish.  It's worked pretty well
>> with the two kids so far (10 and 5).
>
>
> And what I'm wondering is, do they have an inner formed cognitive
> understanding of "selfish", or do they merely see, as a 4 year old,
> the power figure telling them not to do something, and "selfish" is
> just another word for "bad" and bad is another word for a possible
> punishment?

Oh, kids learn 'selfish' right off the bat.  It's one of the first  
causes of conflict ("He took my toy!"  "He won't share his toys!" "He  
took the bigger piece!").

That said, with a kid up to about 4, the majority of teaching is  
"don't do that" and it isn't until they start asking why they  
shouldn't that you need to start explaining yourself. Simple  
explanations are best ("Because it's hot" "because you'll get hurt"  
"because it's rude" etc).  More detailed explanations of these  
concepts come as they get older.

-- 
"Send beer, words simply can't adequately express your gratitude"  -  
James Sedgwick