Sunday, June 20, 2010

Dubious Inventions

7 comments:

  1. I don't know what the crazier invention is, the "catio" he is in or the fact that the Michelin man had a semi-human kid. His outfit looks like the Michelin man with fur.
    I find my child in strange circumstances that she finds when I am not looking; whether it is playing in the toilet, climbing into the oven, (turned off of course), or reaching for the treat she left in her diaper (not fun to clean-up). Parenthood is fun and exciting but this kid in a "catio" reminds me to much of Michael Jackson.

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  2. Kids will always find away to horrify their parents . Whether it is walking in on them painting with their “poo” in their crib , fishing in the toilet, or drawing their shadow on the wall in “washable marker”. Being a parent you never know what is around the corner always remember you can be fully prepared but it could always be worse then it is right now. If you find the humor in it the situation and laugh even if that means you leave the room. Laughter in my opinion is what has kept me and my husband sane for the past 7 years.

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  3. This picture is hilarious. I have never even heard of a catio before seeing this picture. I am a person who is deathly afraid of heights so seeing this makes me a little nervous. This picture reminds me of the lecture that included babies beginning how to crawl and walk. Before they are able to crawl or walk they are not afraid of heights but once they do learn those abilities they have more awareness of what is safe or isn't safe. Another reason this baby in the picture might not be afraid to sit in the catio is because the cultural influences around the baby haven't shown it any signs of fear of heights or safety. Babies may learn to become afraid of heights after they are walking and crawling and understand that when they fall, they hurt themselves, especially if it were to be from higher up. Overall this picture is comical to look at but still makes me almost want to look away because it looks so high up and not sturdy.

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  4. I for one would never put my child in that thing. The only thing that goes through my head when seeing that is what if it broke! Child services would be called imediatly if anyone of my family say that (mainly because that is what my mother does for a living, making sure kids are in safe/loving homes). Now thinking of it as if it were a norm in society to put children in cages suspended above the city, I think it would be a great way for chldren at early ages to either learn to or not to fear hights. How that would affect how difficult it would be to raise them later on would be up for grabs. Say with a child that learns not to fear hights, that child I would guess would be more likely to be carless when high off the ground, resulting in more broken bones than the child that learns to fear hights.

    -Andrew Olson (975443138)

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  5. Amanda Frank said...

    Wow. This is a ridiculously horrible invention. I can maybe see an actual cat being fine in such a thing, but placing a human being in that ready-to-break-at-any-moment kind of contraction is grotesque. Maybe this would be ideal for experimental situations like testing if children who were post-crawlers would actually climb into such a thing verses those pre-crawling babies. However, such tests would be safer in more controlled environments like the non-reflective plexi-glass 'cliff box' which is stably sound on the ground rather than literally suspend however many stories up in the air. I would think this type of structure would not be an ethical solution for finding out if children had a fear of heights, especially in this day-and-age. When was this photograph taken anyways?

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  6. Nicole DeJon Psych 311July 14, 2010 at 11:41 AM

    This picture terrifies me! Since infants begin to notice heights and have a fear of them, is it possible that this baby is scared? or are they only afraid if they are able to fall off of the platform? Ahh, I don't think parents should do this! Scary.

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  7. This terrifies me as well! This reminds me of the fake cliff experiment video we watched in class, and I cannot help but think it might inhibit the child's nature fear of heights. I wonder if the child acclimates to heights at such a young age, if they will be less afraid of them when they age. I wonder if the same child would go out in "the cage" a year later when its cognitive abilities increase? Or would the child have picked up a fear of heights from social clues and their social interactions? Interesting to ponder.

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