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and instead I adopted the seat of the pants approach to parenting

English translation: doing it by instinct, finding out as you go along

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:seat of the pants approach
Selected answer:doing it by instinct, finding out as you go along
Entered by: Tony M

21:30 Jul 3, 2012
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Other / text book
English term or phrase: and instead I adopted the seat of the pants approach to parenting
the term's source come from a text book, a parenting book supported psychology
sharot
doing it by instinct, finding out as you go along
Explanation:
Your question isn't very clear, but I'm guessing it may be this very idiomatic expression that is giving you trouble here.

I believe it comes from early aeronautical slang, when people would "fly by the seat of their pants" — i.e. just manage to get by using instinct and gut feeling, rather than more formal methods.
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 08:47
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +9doing it by instinct, finding out as you go along
Tony M


  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +9
by the seat of my/your/his pants
doing it by instinct, finding out as you go along


Explanation:
Your question isn't very clear, but I'm guessing it may be this very idiomatic expression that is giving you trouble here.

I believe it comes from early aeronautical slang, when people would "fly by the seat of their pants" — i.e. just manage to get by using instinct and gut feeling, rather than more formal methods.

Tony M
France
Local time: 08:47
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 168
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  NancyLynn: on-the-job training, as it were
9 mins
  -> Thanks, Nancy! :-)
agree  Diana Alsobrook
10 mins
  -> Thanks, Diana!
agree  Charles Davis: I believe it meant flying without instruments or radio
14 mins
  -> Thanks, Charles! Yes, I think so... except I believe it existed even before such things had even been thought of...
agree  Phong Le
7 hrs
  -> Thanks, Phong Le!
agree  Arabic & More
7 hrs
  -> Shukran, Amel!
agree  Jack Doughty
9 hrs
  -> Thanks, Jack!
agree  B D Finch: Especially for flying, this probably depends upon well-trained pants.
11 hrs
  -> Thanks, B! And probably easily-washable ones too ;-)
agree  kolya: done both and still doing, {BTW} a great business for dry cleaners.:)
12 hrs
  -> Thanks, Kolya! :-)
agree  jccantrell: ad hoc might also fit.
1 day 17 hrs
  -> Thnaks, J-C! Yes, though possibly too up-register compared to the pretty jocular original.
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