I don't have any kids of my own, but I watch people raise their kids and I find myself constantly wondering if that is the way I would deal with my kids, or if there was a better way to do it. My niece was playing Mario Kart with my dad, she lost and started to cry because she couldn't stay on the road very well and the computer characters were beaming her with turtle shells. The next game it was implied that she won when she was still in last place. This is one of the smaller questions I have, but I was considering what the differences were between telling the truth to just allowing them to believe they won to avoid another crying session. I understand someone may do this to help the child feel better about themselves, but it seems that we do a lot of stuff with kids so that we don't have to deal with the situation, especially if we don't know how.

I think the two most common answers to a child crying over a video game would be sympathetic (sorry the computer is mean to you) or frustration (do you really expect life to be easy? Go to bed!)

How do you, or would you deal with such a situation?

The art of story telling does not include GUESS WHAT!? Guess what is created when you are a child trying to get someone's attention, and if you're not properly shown that this doesn't work well for telling interesting stories you'll probably keep using it to get peoples temporary attention to only have them fall back asleep, I think this is also used in a lot of horror movie scripts.

For an example as far as movies go just look up "Boring horror movies" pick one people say is dumb and watch it, the plot is dry, the movie is slow and when you are about to fall asleep something happens that makes a loud noise or makes you jump, "GUESS WHAT" is what they're saying, now your possibly interested again (for a couple milliseconds till you realize you really don't care for the main character anyways)

You can tell a guess what person by these list of actions

The Chuckle: This is one of my top pet peeves for the 'guess what' traps. You're just sitting there minding your own business when someone makes a silent chuckle, automatically without thinking you look at them and say "What? What are you laughing at" and instantly you remember why you shouldn't ask this question. The person then goes into a long dialogue about what happened in their day that made them chuckle.

Drama King/Queen: People want to be noticed and they want someone to pay attention to them, and sometimes they'll destroy themselves just to get that attention, when the world seems to be ignoring them watch out! There will be something in the near future that will knock you off your socks (or perhaps out of?)

There are more, I just can't think of them right now, I'm sure someone will do the guess what to me at some point

Where does one learn the "Guess What!" Formula?

Ask a child to tell you a story, unless the child you ask is a genius, odds are the story will be very boring, lacking basically everything a good story has, when the child notices you are drifting and are no longer paying attention they say "and then guess what!" and without thinking you say "What?" and then they have you for the next little bit while you are hitting your head with your palm wishing you hadn't of said "What?"

If a person never learns how to deliver a good story, or becomes interesting they will continually find ways to say "guess what" without actually using that line anymore.

Also, just so you are all aware, TV lies! My niece says so.

My niece just turned 6 years old two days ago and a while before this she saw a commercial on tv of a cereal that claimed 'when you pour the bowl the party starts' or something similar to that. She told her parents that she wanted to choose the cereal so they decided to let her and she bought this brand. The next morning she awoke, poured herself a bowl of cereal and looked around the apartment for the party to start.

Sadly, there was no party and she was very disappointed, 'Dad,' She says, 'the tv lied to me! I poured a bowl and there is no party!'

Oh the lessons we learn, unfortunately for the particular cereal, even though it is great tasting she claims she never wants that cereal again because she doesn't appreciate being lied to.

School, are they worth it?

I have an idea, I say we stop college dead in it's tracks and do everything with apprenticeships, it's basically what we did back in the day and it's basically what happens when the person who spent all those years in college does when they get out. How often do we learn something and once we get our hands on the people we are under say "Whoa there! What are you doing? Those college nut jobs don't know what they're talking about." And then we realize we actually don't know as much as we think we might.

This of course isn't for everything but I think it is for most, and I believe a college education is WORSE then playing the powerball as far as money goes. Why? Because there are plenty of graduates out there who are not doing what their college degree says they are capable of doing.

So, why drop college? It is WAY over priced, it takes WAY to long and there are WAY to many people not able to be productive in the work force. I understand the job situation right now and many people can't find jobs, BUT if college was dropped a long time ago would this be happening as much? I doubt it.

I'm not going to go over everything about colleges, but why again, should I buy a new book this year that is simply revised from last year? Why am I being taught by someone who may or may not have actual experience in the field they are blabbering on about? Simply put, it is a lot easier to cheat your way through college then to cheat your way through an apprenticeship, in an apprenticeship your knowledge that you have learned speaks for itself in action, in college, your knowledge through tests, which may or may not actually reflect what someone knows, and in fact, may give more credit to people who are great at memorizing but lack actual knowledge when it comes to the real thing.

People pay for years for a college degree with the possibility of never actually getting a job in the field they went into, now they have a job they could have had without college and are paying an extremely large sum of money back.

When you go to college, when you pass you are not guaranteed a job, if you are in an apprenticeship you are working at your job already, and being productive, you're also getting one on one help from people who really do care if you make it or not, cause if you don't, they've wasted a lot of time and money on you.

The negative? If a person decides to quit an apprenticeship they have wasted the businesses time and money, but they could always have a 'you must finish and have so many years working here or you owe us for the education and time' type thing.

What are your thoughts? Is college really worth the cost of a house?