29.08.2023
On raising kids Part 1, from zero to 6 months, summing up my own experience.
What matters right now? 0. All kids are different, all families are different, there are no magic universal recipes. But watching someone else's experience widens the pool of ideas: "Whoa, so that was an option?"
1. The most important thing — to love, to hug, and to pay active attention. Right now you're building the foundation of attachment — the resource the baby will use to explore the world more boldly. I feel like a giant orbital space station with tankers of milk, where a nimble little research ship swoops in to refuel on food and support. The more stable the station's processes, the longer and more interesting the expeditions will be. Reading on the topic: everything by Petranovskaya and Gippenreiter.
2. I really love showing the baby different bits of the world and watching the emotions. Turns out, for example, that a two-month-old baby really likes museums: he looks at the paintings and laughs.
3. Active life goes on: sling/carrier + breastfeeding = the chance to head off anywhere all together. In my head I keep a list of places where I've breastfed, and it includes a circus and the wheelhouse of a little boat. Don't forget a spare diaper.
4. When you can, get your sleep. Co-sleeping and feeding without waking up helped me a lot.
What will matter soon? The unexpected part: the baby reacts to different languages! At home we speak Russian, almost the whole world around us speaks Spanish, and the baby reacts differently to English and Spanish, for example. I'm thinking that in about a year we'll need to set up a steady source of English.
What I find fun to think about for the future: Will it be possible to turn AI into a personal tutor? Which skills will matter? Soft skills and fact-checking?