Reddit mentions of Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for Young Skeptics (Maybe Guides)

Maybe Yes, Maybe No (LINK)

by Dan Barker

In today's media-flooded world, there is no way to control all of the information, claims, and enticements that reach young people. The best thing to do is arm them with the sword of critical thinking.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No is a charming introduction to self-confidence and self-reliance. The book's ten-year-old heroine, Andrea, is always asking questions because she knows "you should prove the truth of a strange story before you believe it."

"Check it out. Repeat the experiment. Try to prove it wrong. It has to make sense." writes Barker, as he assures young readers that they are fully capable of figuring out what to believe, and of knowing when there just isn't enough information to decide. "You can do it your own way. If you are a good skeptic you will know how to think for yourself."

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The book Maybe Yes, Maybe No by Dan Barker is an age-appropriate introduction to critical thinking. If your brother learns to question and test things, he'll be better prepared to distinguish what is true, and what is not.

They will be exposed to it anyway, sooner or later. Often close relatives decide to "save the souls" of those poor children with "godless" parents. In the meantime, lay the foundations for critical thinking and healthy skepticism.

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Reality-Know-Whats-Really/dp/1439192812/

http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Freethinkers-Practical-Parenting-Beyond/dp/0814410960/

http://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Yes-No-Guide-Skeptics/dp/0879756071/

Consider picking up a copy of Maybe Yes, Maybe No by Dan Barker. It's written to be a book for young skeptics. You may be able to use it with your child now and let her read it herself eventually.

Try something like, Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for Young Skeptics or How Do You Know It's True? and browse the "Also Bought" items.

Maybe Yes, Maybe No could be a good place to start and the suggestions Amazon gives from there are great!Edit to add that this looks like a solid source.

It more or less comes down to showing your kid/s that it is ok to not know something, and to show them how to find an answer that satisfies them.
Explaining The scientific method and how we know things to be true is another thing to work on.

I would suggest picking up a couple books. Dale McGowen and Dan Barker have some great books for this topic


http://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Yes-No-Dan-Barker/dp/0879756071

http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Freethinkers-Practical-Parenting-Beyond/dp/0814410960/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=05WNCHQ8SAJV1KE5DBDX

See my flair.

Maybe some of these or books like these will help you explain things to your kids.

http://www.amazon.com/Parenting-Beyond-Belief-Raising-Religion/dp/0814474268/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326736652&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Just-Pretend-Freethought-Book-Children/dp/1877733059/ref=pd_sim_b_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TST6CPCNP7RGVV1RVT7

http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Freethinkers-Practical-Parenting-Beyond/dp/0814410960/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TST6CPCNP7RGVV1RVT7

http://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Yes-No-Dan-Barker/dp/0879756071/ref=pd_sim_b_5/175-5906093-8191060?ie=UTF8&refRID=161YVFZQ1AYMJBH8S80V

http://www.amazon.com/What-Do-You-Believe-Publishing/dp/0756672287/ref=pd_sim_b_2/175-5906093-8191060?ie=UTF8&refRID=161YVFZQ1AYMJBH8S80V

http://www.amazon.com/Older-than-The-Stars-Karen/dp/1570917884/ref=pd_sim_b_3/175-5906093-8191060?ie=UTF8&refRID=161YVFZQ1AYMJBH8S80V

Written for children, appropriate for some adults.

Sixteen years ago. Not Dan's fault that there's folks out there who missed it. https://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Yes-No-Dan-Barker/dp/0879756071

I really sympathize. I used to believe all that crap, too. For me, it started changing after I took a Biology class. Learning the reasons behind the scientific method really opened my eyes.

When your child gets older, I recommend this book by Dan Barker. It specifically addresses ghosts and skepticism in kid-friendly way.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0879756071/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/180-6193934-8727200

Both of these books have been recommended to me, but I haven't read either yet. They might have some ideas:

• Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for Young Skeptics
  
• Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief

I was raised UU and Humanist and these books from my childhood are what I remember really affecting me positively with UU & Humanist values:

Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children https://www.amazon.com/dp/1877733059/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awd_x_64s0xbYRMGMFG

Maybe Yes, Maybe No https://www.amazon.com/dp/0879756071/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_E6s0xb8KD232H

Maybe Right, Maybe Wrong https://www.amazon.com/dp/0879757310/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_d7s0xbT98RY8K

(Sorry about formatting, I'm on mobile)

Get books then and read them together. The ones in our sidebar are pretty good and the best part is Amazon has a little carousel of related books so you can quite easily end up finding a whole shelf full of potential content.

One particularly good book to promote skepticism is Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for Young Skeptics

The page says its for older children but if you read the reviews you'll find it's just fine for kids your daughter's age as well.

There is also the Awkward Moments Children's Bible, Vol. 1

Which says it isn't for children and I'm going to hee and haw about that as I feel the Bible itself is inappropriate for Children and I further feel it is dishonest that many children's Bible's gloss over some bad parts in order to only sew a dishonest sense of good feelings in children through cherry picking which I would challenge most people to distinguish from indoctrination, brainwashing, whatever you want to call it -- they're weaponized books and the authors often carefully study child psychology to maximize indoctrination potential. If you get it maybe read over it yourself before deciding if it's appropriate, I'd definitely give it to a teenager without reservation but younger children it depends on how mature they are and what you want them exposed to.

Anyways best of luck!

Sounds like she could use that "Maybe Yes, Maybe No" book that gets plugged around here every so often.

Resource to help teach your kid how to think: http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0879756071

I read this in about 10 minutes. It's very simplistic and a great guide to introduce young children to the principles of critical thinking.

Maybe you can get away with giving a book:

http://www.amazon.com/Maybe-Yes-No-Guide-Skeptics/dp/0879756071/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334967003&sr=1-1

I think you shold teach her critical thinking skills from a young age. We did that with our son. We taight him how to think, and not what to think. There are great books, for all ages, on the subject. A great book, for example, is Dan Barker's Maybe Yes, Maybe No: : A Guide for Young Skeptics .

Once a child is armed with this skill, you can send them out into the world, and expose them to ideas, and let them sort them out.

One thing that we did, that we thought was a good ting to break out "how to think, rather that what to think" rule was the concept of hell.

We specifically told him from the first time he was exposed to the concept, that hell is not true. The concept of hell is particularly insidious and damaging. As someone who belongs to several secular/atheist oragnizations, I have seem the havoc the idea of hell has wreaked on people's lives.

>Her native language is Dutch.

uitstekende!

Maybe Yes, Maybe No

http://smile.amazon.com/Maybe-Yes-No-Dan-Barker/dp/0879756071/