Well said Lis.
For what use the information might be, some young friends of ours do a lot
of work in the field all over the world and they frequently take their
children with them rather than consigning them to "caregivers." They took
their first-born son to Borneo at ten months. A few years ago when he was
eight, he was towing the canoe up the shallows of the river to the research
station by wading with the tow-rope over his shoulder and remarked, "Gosh,
here I am in Borneo, wading up a jungle river and my friends are back home
in Boston playing with video games. He got his scuba certification that year
in Indonesia even though he has to "wait" until he's ten to get certified in
the US. His little sister learned scuba last year at eight even though she
has to be nine even in Indonesia to get a card. The family that scubas
together . . .
What kind of adults will these kids make, I wonder?
Oh, to have had parents like this . . . !!!!
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lis Castillo Nelis" <lne...@stanford.edu>
To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012 3:31 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Backpacking with an infant?
I reassert that advice concerning the child’s well being was unsolicited in
the original post. If a colleague over 50 asked for gear recommendations,
no one would have recommended that they avoid fieldwork because of the risk
for heart attack. We assume they are intelligent enough to take care of
themselves.
We need similar assumptions for parents. The original poster probably
already spoke with their pediatrician. They may even have a medically
trained babysitter joining them at the top of the mountain. We don’t know
and it isn’t our business. Instead of assuming the worst of each other, how
about assuming the best?
In the future, if we are concerned about someone’s life choices, a short
email directly to the sender may be the better option. Many young
researchers read this forum. We need to be careful what message we send
out. This thread showed some terrific support for families in science.
Unfortunately, it also showed that many colleagues doubt parenting decisions
of others, and that some colleagues think parents can’t be good scientists
at all. If we want to diversify science we need to accept those who make
decisions different from our own.
Good luck to all parents out there who choose to take your kids with you
into the field!
Lis
Lisa Castillo Nelis
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanford University
Gordon Laboratory
Department of Biology
Gilbert Building, Room 109
371 Serra Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-5020
Phone: 650-725-6791
Email: lne...@stanford.edu
Home page: http://www.stanford.edu/~lnelis/
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