Teach Your Children As You Would Teach a Robot

December 10, 2007 by admin.

I read an article in the December 2007 issue of Wired magazine called “Getting a Grip”.  It was about the attempts scientists are making to create robots that can simulate human movement and activity.  But these are special robots.  They don’t just do repetitive movements such as you would see in a factory.  We’re talking here about robots that can respond to their environment.  When asked to retrieve an object, it will be programmed to such an extent that it not only recognizes what object has been requested of it to retrieve, but also have the ability to lift and hold the object as we would with our hands.  It will actually have to “think” and, as a child, through trial and error, learn what works and what doesn’t work.

So, y0u may be wondering what this has to do with kids.  As Gregory Mone shared in his article “Babies don’t just wander around alone, picking up strange objects and trying to figure out how they move…. Babies rely heavily on others to show them what to handle and how to handle it.”  It’s that dependency that eventually turns into independence.  Why are parents expecting their children to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly if they, the parents, don’t act as good role models?  Nine times out of ten, if you see an overweight child, one or both of his or her parents are overweight.

Modeling is where parents set a good example for their children to follow.  One of the first places that should take place is at the kitchen table.  Family meals where healthy food choices are served shows children what their parents think are good for them.  It’s not a matter of forcing a child to eat all the food on his plate.  It’s a time for a child to see how much his or her parents serve themselves, whether they eat their meal at a relaxed and slow-pace, if they’re willing to leave something on the plate when they have reached that satisfied level, and so on.  Children are very good at doing what others do.  You know, ”monkey see, monkey do.”  Take advantage of that characteristic and all of you will be the healthier for it.

The same approach is being used by scientists to train their robots.  They give the robot a task to accomplish, first showing it how the task should be done.  The robot continues to do the task until it is done successfully.  It now knows what works and what doesn’t.   Think about teaching your children what it means to live healthfully as you would teach a robot.  Give them something to emulate.

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