501 Critical Reading Questions

Critical Reading Questions
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2 5 3
could choose to eat the marshmallow right away or wait fifteen min-
utes to eat the marshmallow and receive another marshmallow as a
reward for waiting. Researchers followed the children and found that
by high school those children who ate their marshmallow right away
were more likely to be lonely, more prone to stress, and more easily
frustrated. Conversely, the children who demonstrated self-control
were outgoing, confident, and dependable.
This research seems to answer the old adage, “you can’t spoil a
baby.” It seems that a baby who is fed at the first sign of hunger and
picked up on demand can perhaps be “spoiled.” Most parents, how-
ever, tend to balance their baby’s needs with their own. Many parents
will teach their baby to sleep through the night by not picking up the
baby when she awakes in the middle of the night. Although it can be
heart wrenching for these parents to ignore their baby’s cries, they are
teaching their baby to fall asleep on her own and getting the benefit
of a full night’s sleep.
While many parents will come to good parenting techniques
instinctually and through various community supports, others parents
are not equipped for the trials of raising a baby. Are these babies
doomed to lives of frustration, poor impulse-control, and anti-social
behavior? Certainly not. Remedial actions—such as providing
enrichment programs at daycare centers and educating parents—can
be taken to reverse the effects of bad parenting. However, the research
indicates that the sooner these remedies are put into action the better.
477.
The primary purpose of the passage is to