Daily Dose of Common Sense

My three-year old loves ghosts. She loves any book with a ghost in it, and Boo Berry cereal is always a huge hit. But, she’s never afraid of them, and doesn’t consider them any more real than Spongebob Squarepants. To her, as well as rational people everywhere, ghosts are fictional, amusing things. We can say this because the existence of ghosts, or any kind of paranormal activity for that matter, has never been credibly documented or recorded using true scientific methods.

In searching online for a ghost costume for Halloween that would fit better than a sheet (and let me tell you, it was hard finding a ghost costume that didn’t make her look like a Klan member), I happened upon a blog for parents of psychic kids. This site promotes “intuitive parenting for intuitive kids.” The posts are from parents who believe their son or daughter sees ghosts (mostly deceased relatives) or has interactions with an invisible friend.

Readers of this blog write with glee about how sensitive and perceptive their kids are. Billy communicates with Grandma! Cindy sees angels! Joey talks to an invisible friend! (Note their use of the word invisible rather than imaginary.) The parents are desperate for advice on how to nurture the psychic ability in their “very special” children. This is Little-League-Dad gone mad. We all want our kids to be special and unique. But, sacrificing rationality for competitive advantage and the chance to live vicariously through your child’s experiences or, much worse, encouraging a belief in something that has no basis in proven reality, makes the result a very questionable “gift.”

This trend isn’t limited to the InterWebs. A show called “Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal” aired recently on A&E (that stands for Arts & Entertainment…not exactly the first place I look for scientific commentary). According to the show’s Web site, a medium “utilizes both his abilities in the paranormal and his Masters Degree in Psychology when he deals with children who are showing signs of possessing psychic and medium abilities.” So, basically, the kids make claims of extraordinary abilities, then their parents and a medium encourage it on television.

Many believe that these types of programs should be given a pass because they have entertainment value for those who choose to watch them. At the same time, however, it’s really hard to stomach some of the claims made by these shows when they pretend to be scientific about their investigations. Ghost Hunters, for example, uses unproven flashy gadgets to support their points. This mainstream use of pseudoscience convinces (or tricks) some viewers of the legitimacy of the stated claims. Fortunately, this entices professional skeptics groups to use real science to show the truth.

Parents should remember that children learn most of what informs their development from home, and the power of suggestion from elders is very enticing to a child. If every parent put as much focus into awakening a child’s interest in reading, art, math, music, science, history, or any other truly educational pursuit, we might end up with more literate, accomplished, and rational future generations.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 6:12 pm and is filed under debunking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.