[House] My ENT's comments on parenting

[Robin Lee Powell]

(I wouldn't bother except that he seemed actually clueful and one of
the things he said was genuinely novel to me)

He strongly suggested that I avoid the whole "best preschool, best
middle school ... best university" cycle, no matter external
pressures.  Since I had *just* finished reading the section of
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Baby-Raise-Smart/dp/0979777755
(which you all have to read by the way) that said that the only
non-genetic predictors of adult happiness anyone has ever found are
above-poverty income and having lots of close intimate
relationships, he hardly needed to tell me that, but there it is.

The novel suggestion was about walking.  His assertion was that
there is no research whatsoever that connects age of walking with
*anything at all*; it's apparently totally disconnected from
everything else, including things like talking and other general
intellectual stuff.  Therefore, his assertion was, you want the kid
to walk as late as possible, because the older the kid is the more
able they are to understand the concept of "please don't gnaw on the
electrical cords" or whatever.  I dunno that this one is very much
under our control, but none the less interesting, and certainly
makes me a lot less likely to spend time play-walking with them.

-Robin