In Praise of the Post-it
June 28, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
We have been known to stick flashcards on the furniture (”COUCH,” “DOOR”) in the (vain) hope that Charlie would learn to associate the letters with the items they were affixed to. (In retrospect, I think he may simply not have been ready to read at that time.) Post-it notes are also useful in this situation, though a bit of Scotch tape can help……. Today’s New York Times describes the evolution of the Post-it note from the office to the home:
No mere half-sticky slip of paper, the Post-it is a cache for information that will not stick elsewhere — like in your brain. “Outsourced neurons,” offered Dan Heath, a business consultant and teacher and a co-author of “Made to Stick,” a new book about business concepts and slogans with staying power. “Or let’s call them prosthetic memory.”
Memory experts, in fact, call them retrieval cues, an assist for absent-mindedness.
Having forgotten to send in the permission slip for Charlie’s bowling field trip today (Jim saved the day by hurrying over to the school to drop off a written note; Charlie grabbed his hand and tried to pull him into the classroom), I think I need to stick up a few more notes to jog my neurons into action.
I too have been accused of being a “Helicopter Parent”. This usually happens when the right interventions are either being ignored or not used properly. If I wasn’t so involved they might never tell me when things start to fall apart. You only hear when things are so bad they are ready to ship your child out of district or requesting you medicate your child. If everyone did exactly what they were supposed to there would be a lot less Helicopter/Pilot Parents out there. I am homeschooling my youngest now. Even Helicopter Parents know when the battle is a losing one and take over the controls before the “Black Hawk” is down. Thanks for the article.
Outsourcing memory? I found someone’s errand list in a dressing room at Kohl’s last night. I hope she remembered to do everything on it — expecially the last item, “Buy Diapers.”
Daisy, I keep my “outsourced memory” for outside the house on my PDA — I’ll notice if I drop THAT!
(I can also have mp3s on it; I have single-song playlists set up that I can loop with each child’s favorite “calm” song.)