Teach a Kid to Argue - Figures of Speech - 0 views
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Just as I was withdrawing money in a bank lobby, my 5-year-old daughter chose to throw a temper tantrum, screaming and writhing on the floor while a couple of elderly ladies looked on in disgust. (Their children, apparently, had been perfect.) I gave Dorothy a disappointed look and said, “That argument won’t work, sweetheart. It isn’t pathetic enough.” She blinked a couple of times and picked herself up off the floor, pouting but quiet.
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Rhetoric doesn’t turn kids into back-sassers; it makes them think about other points of view.
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let’s face it: Our culture has lost the ability to usefully disagree. Most Americans seem to avoid argument. But this has produced passive aggression and groupthink in the office, red and blue states, and families unable to discuss things as simple as what to watch on television.
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