On FB some friends were discussing what rationality/meta-intellectual concepts would be good to start teaching to young children (ages 3-5).
I liked 's list - I think all of these could be taught, via real examples & Socratic-style conversation, to a smart youngster:
Conversation
"You can argue with your parents but not with reality." Put a candy in a box and have them try to argue lots of reasons why the box contains two candies. "Even when you don't know the answer it isn't up for grabs." Don't tell them the # of candies, then have them argue for 5.
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I'd like my kids to stay irrationally imaginative and playful during that age.
Piaget stages are not as hard-edged as they are often made out to be, but still a very useful progression to keep in mind
These kids will stop believing in Santa Claus a lot earlier than other kids
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Good list - but I have a reasonably smart 5 year old, and I'm fairly sure 3 and 7 are not reasonable things to try to teach yet.
(Outlining concrete lesson plans that teach/reinforce these would change my mind. Also, those would be valuable anyways.)
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