Solar Eclipse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even The Atlantic is calling out the safety-ism:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/04/eclipse-panic-eyes-hurt/678002/

Atlantic is contrarian whiners.

You know how everyone on DCUM thinks everyone is a moron? The safetyism articles are reminding those morons not to stare at the sun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids school did not let the kids go out after 1:30 PM. They told the kids they could not go outside without a parent there but it sounds like that was not well enforced. I sent my son with 6 pairs of glasses and he shared we the other kids. The kids said it was cool.

The thing is that the precautions were unnecessary. We had people at work who made a viewing device out of two pieces of paper and a pen. They poked a hole into one pice of paper and made a pin hole projector. Any school could have done that with kids. The sun was still bright, negating the possibility of anyone looking at it. The danger of looking at it was in areas with totality where the sun was completely covered and you were looking when the moon stopped covering the sun and you were hit by the pulse of initial light. We did not have to worry about that.

We had parents pull kids from school when they heard the school wasn’t going to let the kids go outside and watch. Lots of kids pulled between 1:30-2:00.

Precautions aren't totally unnecessary (people have gone blind from looking at partial eclipses), but there's reasonable and there's insane. Our school sent kids out with NASA-endorsed eclipse glasses and lots of parent volunteers and my children reported it was great. Kindergarteners did a project where they surrounded their glasses with paper plates as is recommended for small children and the rest of the primary grades were pretty jealous.

That said, even at our school the "abundance of caution" language did some harm. One of my oldest kid's friends was so concerned that they refused to look at the eclipse even through glasses, worrying that the glasses wouldn't work (they did, my kid who used them is fine). The idea that keeping kids physically safe by freaking them out is healthy is insane. This kid missed out on a cool experience because they were freaked out. That's not as harmful as being blind, maybe, but still harmful.

A kid with hyper anxiety can't be magically cured because you wish it so. Meanwhile millions of other kids enjoyed looking at the eclipse safely and didn't burn their eyes being careless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Reid really missed the mark on this. Schools should have had a 2 hr early release today. The schools have been absolutely swarmed with early checkouts.

Interesting. Neither of my last two classes had even one student check out early. I also had zero absences in those two classes.

That’s because you are either a middle school or a high school which got out before the peak viewing time. Kids would have gotten home in time to see it. Also, parents are less likely to pull early from middle and high school because grades actually count. Next.

The only way your comment contributed to this post was to prove that you’re a jerk.

You don’t think it’s being a jerk to brag about how you had no student check out early? As if her teaching prowess had something to do with it. Please.

Where did the teacher brag that her "teaching prowess" had anything to do with her classes being full? It seemed instead a rebuttal to the post that stated "the schools have been absolutely swarmed with early checkouts." The teacher's post was not at all a jerk response, but yours was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids school did not let the kids go out after 1:30 PM. They told the kids they could not go outside without a parent there but it sounds like that was not well enforced. I sent my son with 6 pairs of glasses and he shared we the other kids. The kids said it was cool.

The thing is that the precautions were unnecessary. We had people at work who made a viewing device out of two pieces of paper and a pen. They poked a hole into one pice of paper and made a pin hole projector. Any school could have done that with kids. The sun was still bright, negating the possibility of anyone looking at it. The danger of looking at it was in areas with totality where the sun was completely covered and you were looking when the moon stopped covering the sun and you were hit by the pulse of initial light. We did not have to worry about that.

We had parents pull kids from school when they heard the school wasn’t going to let the kids go outside and watch. Lots of kids pulled between 1:30-2:00.

Precautions aren't totally unnecessary (people have gone blind from looking at partial eclipses), but there's reasonable and there's insane. Our school sent kids out with NASA-endorsed eclipse glasses and lots of parent volunteers and my children reported it was great. Kindergarteners did a project where they surrounded their glasses with paper plates as is recommended for small children and the rest of the primary grades were pretty jealous.

That said, even at our school the "abundance of caution" language did some harm. One of my oldest kid's friends was so concerned that they refused to look at the eclipse even through glasses, worrying that the glasses wouldn't work (they did, my kid who used them is fine). The idea that keeping kids physically safe by freaking them out is healthy is insane. This kid missed out on a cool experience because they were freaked out. That's not as harmful as being blind, maybe, but still harmful.

A kid with hyper anxiety can't be magically cured because you wish it so. Meanwhile millions of other kids enjoyed looking at the eclipse safely and didn't burn their eyes being careless.

+1 the talk of safety and precautions are necessary but then there are the hyper anxious kids (like my son) who will go overboard. It sucks but that’s how he’s wired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids school did not let the kids go out after 1:30 PM. They told the kids they could not go outside without a parent there but it sounds like that was not well enforced. I sent my son with 6 pairs of glasses and he shared we the other kids. The kids said it was cool.

The thing is that the precautions were unnecessary. We had people at work who made a viewing device out of two pieces of paper and a pen. They poked a hole into one pice of paper and made a pin hole projector. Any school could have done that with kids. The sun was still bright, negating the possibility of anyone looking at it. The danger of looking at it was in areas with totality where the sun was completely covered and you were looking when the moon stopped covering the sun and you were hit by the pulse of initial light. We did not have to worry about that.

We had parents pull kids from school when they heard the school wasn’t going to let the kids go outside and watch. Lots of kids pulled between 1:30-2:00.

Precautions aren't totally unnecessary (people have gone blind from looking at partial eclipses), but there's reasonable and there's insane. Our school sent kids out with NASA-endorsed eclipse glasses and lots of parent volunteers and my children reported it was great. Kindergarteners did a project where they surrounded their glasses with paper plates as is recommended for small children and the rest of the primary grades were pretty jealous.

That said, even at our school the "abundance of caution" language did some harm. One of my oldest kid's friends was so concerned that they refused to look at the eclipse even through glasses, worrying that the glasses wouldn't work (they did, my kid who used them is fine). The idea that keeping kids physically safe by freaking them out is healthy is insane. This kid missed out on a cool experience because they were freaked out. That's not as harmful as being blind, maybe, but still harmful.

A kid with hyper anxiety can't be magically cured because you wish it so. Meanwhile millions of other kids enjoyed looking at the eclipse safely and didn't burn their eyes being careless.

+1 the talk of safety and precautions are necessary but then there are the hyper anxious kids (like my son) who will go overboard. It sucks but that’s how he’s wired.

DP. The hyper anxious kids are often that way because their parents are hyper anxious about absolutely everything pertaining to their child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids school did not let the kids go out after 1:30 PM. They told the kids they could not go outside without a parent there but it sounds like that was not well enforced. I sent my son with 6 pairs of glasses and he shared we the other kids. The kids said it was cool.

The thing is that the precautions were unnecessary. We had people at work who made a viewing device out of two pieces of paper and a pen. They poked a hole into one pice of paper and made a pin hole projector. Any school could have done that with kids. The sun was still bright, negating the possibility of anyone looking at it. The danger of looking at it was in areas with totality where the sun was completely covered and you were looking when the moon stopped covering the sun and you were hit by the pulse of initial light. We did not have to worry about that.

We had parents pull kids from school when they heard the school wasn’t going to let the kids go outside and watch. Lots of kids pulled between 1:30-2:00.

Precautions aren't totally unnecessary (people have gone blind from looking at partial eclipses), but there's reasonable and there's insane. Our school sent kids out with NASA-endorsed eclipse glasses and lots of parent volunteers and my children reported it was great. Kindergarteners did a project where they surrounded their glasses with paper plates as is recommended for small children and the rest of the primary grades were pretty jealous.

That said, even at our school the "abundance of caution" language did some harm. One of my oldest kid's friends was so concerned that they refused to look at the eclipse even through glasses, worrying that the glasses wouldn't work (they did, my kid who used them is fine). The idea that keeping kids physically safe by freaking them out is healthy is insane. This kid missed out on a cool experience because they were freaked out. That's not as harmful as being blind, maybe, but still harmful.

A kid with hyper anxiety can't be magically cured because you wish it so. Meanwhile millions of other kids enjoyed looking at the eclipse safely and didn't burn their eyes being careless.

+1 the talk of safety and precautions are necessary but then there are the hyper anxious kids (like my son) who will go overboard. It sucks but that’s how he’s wired.

DP. The hyper anxious kids are often that way because their parents are hyper anxious about absolutely everything pertaining to their child.

Please please don’t blame mental health issues of kids on parents. They can be genetic. If that were the case our other child would also be hyper anxious and she’s not. She had no issue whatsoever staring at the eclipse with her glasses.

[Anonymous]

How many of your kids ended up blind from this?? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many of your kids ended up blind from this?? Just curious.

None. Because safety was discussed and followed. Kids either only looked with glasses or didn’t look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Reid really missed the mark on this. Schools should have had a 2 hr early release today. The schools have been absolutely swarmed with early checkouts.

Interesting. Neither of my last two classes had even one student check out early. I also had zero absences in those two classes.

That’s because you are either a middle school or a high school which got out before the peak viewing time. Kids would have gotten home in time to see it. Also, parents are less likely to pull early from middle and high school because grades actually count. Next.

The only way your comment contributed to this post was to prove that you’re a jerk.

You don’t think it’s being a jerk to brag about how you had no student check out early? As if her teaching prowess had something to do with it. Please.

Where did the teacher brag that her "teaching prowess" had anything to do with her classes being full? It seemed instead a rebuttal to the post that stated "the schools have been absolutely swarmed with early checkouts." The teacher's post was not at all a jerk response, but yours was.

Yawn. Get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids school did not let the kids go out after 1:30 PM. They told the kids they could not go outside without a parent there but it sounds like that was not well enforced. I sent my son with 6 pairs of glasses and he shared we the other kids. The kids said it was cool.

The thing is that the precautions were unnecessary. We had people at work who made a viewing device out of two pieces of paper and a pen. They poked a hole into one pice of paper and made a pin hole projector. Any school could have done that with kids. The sun was still bright, negating the possibility of anyone looking at it. The danger of looking at it was in areas with totality where the sun was completely covered and you were looking when the moon stopped covering the sun and you were hit by the pulse of initial light. We did not have to worry about that.

We had parents pull kids from school when they heard the school wasn’t going to let the kids go outside and watch. Lots of kids pulled between 1:30-2:00.

Precautions aren't totally unnecessary (people have gone blind from looking at partial eclipses), but there's reasonable and there's insane. Our school sent kids out with NASA-endorsed eclipse glasses and lots of parent volunteers and my children reported it was great. Kindergarteners did a project where they surrounded their glasses with paper plates as is recommended for small children and the rest of the primary grades were pretty jealous.

That said, even at our school the "abundance of caution" language did some harm. One of my oldest kid's friends was so concerned that they refused to look at the eclipse even through glasses, worrying that the glasses wouldn't work (they did, my kid who used them is fine). The idea that keeping kids physically safe by freaking them out is healthy is insane. This kid missed out on a cool experience because they were freaked out. That's not as harmful as being blind, maybe, but still harmful.

A kid with hyper anxiety can't be magically cured because you wish it so. Meanwhile millions of other kids enjoyed looking at the eclipse safely and didn't burn their eyes being careless.

+1 the talk of safety and precautions are necessary but then there are the hyper anxious kids (like my son) who will go overboard. It sucks but that’s how he’s wired.

DP. The hyper anxious kids are often that way because their parents are hyper anxious about absolutely everything pertaining to their child.

Please please don’t blame mental health issues of kids on parents. They can be genetic. If that were the case our other child would also be hyper anxious and she’s not. She had no issue whatsoever staring at the eclipse with her glasses.

Sorry PP.

Our entire society tells kids to be anxious instead of resilient (see: The Coddling of the American Mind). It really stinks when you have kids who are wired that way and then we feed the anxiety beast with everything - like for example the eclipse. A parent might be home encouraging a student that eclipse glasses are safe, and then in school a teacher unintentionally freak the kid back out again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids school did not let the kids go out after 1:30 PM. They told the kids they could not go outside without a parent there but it sounds like that was not well enforced. I sent my son with 6 pairs of glasses and he shared we the other kids. The kids said it was cool.

The thing is that the precautions were unnecessary. We had people at work who made a viewing device out of two pieces of paper and a pen. They poked a hole into one pice of paper and made a pin hole projector. Any school could have done that with kids. The sun was still bright, negating the possibility of anyone looking at it. The danger of looking at it was in areas with totality where the sun was completely covered and you were looking when the moon stopped covering the sun and you were hit by the pulse of initial light. We did not have to worry about that.

We had parents pull kids from school when they heard the school wasn’t going to let the kids go outside and watch. Lots of kids pulled between 1:30-2:00.

Precautions aren't totally unnecessary (people have gone blind from looking at partial eclipses), but there's reasonable and there's insane. Our school sent kids out with NASA-endorsed eclipse glasses and lots of parent volunteers and my children reported it was great. Kindergarteners did a project where they surrounded their glasses with paper plates as is recommended for small children and the rest of the primary grades were pretty jealous.

That said, even at our school the "abundance of caution" language did some harm. One of my oldest kid's friends was so concerned that they refused to look at the eclipse even through glasses, worrying that the glasses wouldn't work (they did, my kid who used them is fine). The idea that keeping kids physically safe by freaking them out is healthy is insane. This kid missed out on a cool experience because they were freaked out. That's not as harmful as being blind, maybe, but still harmful.

A kid with hyper anxiety can't be magically cured because you wish it so. Meanwhile millions of other kids enjoyed looking at the eclipse safely and didn't burn their eyes being careless.

+1 the talk of safety and precautions are necessary but then there are the hyper anxious kids (like my son) who will go overboard. It sucks but that’s how he’s wired.

DP. The hyper anxious kids are often that way because their parents are hyper anxious about absolutely everything pertaining to their child.

Please please don’t blame mental health issues of kids on parents. They can be genetic. If that were the case our other child would also be hyper anxious and she’s not. She had no issue whatsoever staring at the eclipse with her glasses.

Sorry PP.

Our entire society tells kids to be anxious instead of resilient (see: The Coddling of the American Mind). It really stinks when you have kids who are wired that way and then we feed the anxiety beast with everything - like for example the eclipse. A parent might be home encouraging a student that eclipse glasses are safe, and then in school a teacher unintentionally freak the kid back out again.

I don’t believe the teacher freaked my child out - he freaked himself out. All of us were outside and encouraging him and his own anxiety was a barrier. Eventually he did look up briefly but that was it. I was disappointed.