Freakonomics

  Has there been another art so devoutly converted into
  a science as art of  parenting?

Over the recent decades, a vast and diverse flock of parenting experts has arisen. Anyone who tries even casually to follow their advice may be stymied, for the conventional wisdom on parenting seems to shift by the hour. Sometimes it is the case of one expert differing from another. At other times the most vocal experts suddenly agree en masse that the old wisdom was wrong and that the new wisdom is, for a little while at least, irrefutably right. Breast feeding, for example, is the only way to guarantee a healthy and intellectually advanced child -unless bottle feeding is the answer. A baby should always be put to sleep on her back - until it was decreed that she should only be put to sleep on her stomach. Eating liver is either a) toxic or b) imperative for brain development. Spare the rod and spoil the child; Spare the rod and spoil the child; spank the child and go to jail.

In her book Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children, Ann Hulbert documented how parenting experts contradict one another and even themselves. Their banter might be hilarious, were it not so confounding, and often scary. Gary Ezzo, who in the Babywise book series endorses an "infant-management strategy" for moms and dads trying to "achieve excellence in parenting," stresses how important it is to train a baby, early on, to sleep alone through the night. Otherwise, Ezzo warns, sleep deprivation might " negatively impact an infant's developing central nervous system" and lead to learning disabilities. Advocates of "co-sleeping," meanwhile, warn that sleeping alone is harmful to a baby's psyche and that he should be brought into the "family bed."



Language Note


devoutly
express devotion or piety
독실하게, 경건하게

stymie
to hinder, block, or thwart
~을 방해하다, 훼방놓다

en masse
in a masse; all together; as a whole
한 무더기로, 모두 함께

irrefutably
that cannot be refuted or disproved
반박할 수 없게

decree
to decide with authority
포고하다

imperative
absolutely necessary or, required; unavoidable
피할 수 없는, 부득이한

banter
be silly or tease one another
희롱, 놀림

confound
to perplex or amaze, esp. by a sudden disturbance or surprise;
bewilder; confuse
~을 당황케하다, 어리둥절하게 하다

endorse
to approve, support, or sustain
~을 지지하다

psyche
the human soul, spirit, or mind
영혼, 정신


EBS Power English Aug, 2008 중에서