Critical thinking seems to be somewhat of a lost art.

So many people want to be told what to think by experts.

But more and more I believe that "experts" have both some of the best information out there and also some of the worst. Bad dietary information by "experts" has led the nation down a path of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

The critical thinking comes in about which experts to believe. And what expert studies have useful information.

And I agree with you about mothers and laypersons in general. Just because a person does not have credentials does not mean that can not gather information and make critical thinking decisions on it. With information available to us today a person can in a large part self educate on about any subject they want if they have the desire. For all the downside of perhaps ingesting bad information, I'm not sure it is not just as offsetting avoiding all the dogma, misinformation and outdated information taught in schools.

John