About SkepDad
The SkepDad Blog is a place for rational, science-minded fathers to express their thoughts, opinions, and ideas about bringing up kids to be critical thinking adults in a world filled with superstition, mysticism, and pseudoscience. It is not so much about rejecting ideas. More so, it is a matter of looking at beliefs, philosophy, dogma, culture, creed, and theory with an eye for the critical and evidence-based. It is about asking questions over blind acceptance. It is about enlightenment and understanding over indoctrination and memorization.
Who am I?
I am a scientist. After four years of study I received my Bachelors of Science in molecular genetics from the University of Alberta. I chose not to pursue a research career in favor of other opportunities. But my training as a scientist has stuck to me and is conveyed in much of what I do. My scientific background allows me access to a wealth of technical knowledge and also a repertoire of tools that encourage both logical thought and critical analysis.
I am an educator. Two and a half more years at University earned me a Bachelors of Education degree. I taught briefly in the public school system, but left quickly to pursue work in the field of public awareness and community education with not-for-profit organizations, taking science and making it accessible to the public. After nearly a decade of writing, designing, and communicating scientific ideas to a layman audience, I now want to teach my offspring those skills so that they can build and expand on them and go on to seek their own role in our world.
Am I a skeptic? Yes.
Though I’m a novice. I’ve dabbled on the fringes of skepticism for a long time, much of my life in fact, and continue to do so on a daily basis. I don’t claim to be an expert skeptic. I don’t claim to be seasoned in logic or critical analysis. But how else does one find that expertise but to practice. To read. To listen. And to teach.
So, am I teaching my kids to be skeptics? Yes, in a way.
For my own reasons, I don’t want to deny them their childhood or rob them of their innocence. I imagine that this might be my greatest source of criticism. My thoughts on critical thinking are not necessarily (at least in front of kids) about tossing out religion, turning the lights onto the paranormal, grounding UFOs, or pulling the beard off of Santa in the mall. Yes, this is a big part of skepticism for adults — and a big part of my own interaction with my world. But when raising kids the value of these things in making the universe a mysterious and unifying whole is very important. These and others help to build a sense of community, color, and culture — or simply provide entertainment — and (though many more seasoned skeptics may argue on this point) these things are invaluable for any and all children.
That said, I’m not in favour of lying to kids either. As colourful as each of these things are to culture, when the questions are asked skeptical parenting begins: I prefer to regard these as so-called “teachable moments.”
As my own kids become adults they will hopefully look more and more skeptically at these ideas. Really, I think it’s about balance. It’s about enjoying every facet of society and opening the mind to every experience offered by life. And at the end of the day even kids need to understand that they can enjoy these things, but to look at these concepts with a critical eye, manage their lives, beliefs, relationships, and decisions on fact and sound evidence — and not to base financial decisions on psychic advice, spend time and resources on frivolous alien / ghost / bigfoot hunts, or bet their health and happiness on ‘miracle cures.’
