At 6.5 and 8.5 years of age, the Free-Ride offspring sometimes seem more comfortable expressing their understanding of various ideas with drawings rather than just with words. I sometimes wonder where they pick up their visual vocabulary. For example, the younger Free-Ride offspring provides a picture to accompany the discussion of mutants posted two weeks ago:
In pondering the effects of nature versus nurture, the Free-Ride parents have become painfully aware that a large part of their offspring’s environment is provided by the kids at school. This is how the sprogs came to be aware of the existence of The Disney Channel, whose offering seem to grate on the parental units as much as they delight the offspring.
At Casa Free-Ride, the price for choosing a television program your parent does not care for is engaging in some critical thinking about its subject matter.
Dr. Free-Ride: OK, so explain That’s So Raven to me. What is the deal with Raven and those “visions”?
Elder offspring: She’s a psychic.
Younger offspring: Yeah.
Dr. Free-Ride: A psychic, eh? What exactly does that mean?
Dr. Free-Ride: Do you guys have a view on which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Elder offspring: Do you mean the chicken or the chicken egg? Or just the egg the first chicken came out of?
Younger offspring: The first chicken came out of an egg, but it was an egg laid by some other kind of creature.
Dr. Free-Ride: And so, knowing as much as you do, you find no paradox here.
Elder offspring: But the Liar’s Paradox is still a real paradox.
Groundhog’s Day
It’s February again and what do you know — the groundhog has made its appearance in school work!
It doesn’t matter that the sprogs have discussed it before, the curriculum requires an annual reexamination of Punxsutawney Phil’s predictive prowess.
Thankfully, there seems to be at least a little critical thinking involved, to wit:
Elder offspring: Do you know why eggs are egg-shaped?
Younger offspring: Because they’re eggs?
Dr. Free-Ride: Indeed, it would probably be surprising if eggs, of all things, weren’t egg-shaped.
A bath-time conversation:
Younger offspring: The water is pretty warm.
Dr. Free-Ride: Is it too hot? I could add some more cold water.
Younger offspring: No, it’s good. I’m just going to ooze in, like a snail oozing into its shell.
Dr. Free-Ride: Because easing in would be too conventional.
Walking to school on a cold morning:
Elder offspring: I’m going to steal your warmth!
Dr. Free-Ride: Oh really?
Elder offspring sticks hands in Dr. Free-Ride’s coat pockets, where Dr. Free-Ride’s hands are.
Elder offspring: Brrr! Your hands are really cold!
Dr. Free-Ride: Yes, they are. Mwah ha ha!
Elder offspring: I’m still going to steal your warmth!
Dr. Free-Ride: My dear, given that in this universe heat flows from hotter objects to cooler ones, I’m pretty sure it is I who will steal your heat.
* * * * *
Last Friday, the Free-Ride family was visiting friends in Santa Barbara. It was a very rainy day, so we decided that a trip to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History made more sense than a hike or a trip to the beach.
Within minutes of our arrival, there was an announcement that a planetarium show was just about to start, and that there was still room for more visitors to see it. We took advantage of the opportunity.
It was a really good decision.
Younger offspring: In the summer, we went to Yosemite and stayed in a cabin. We had to be really careful about bears. We couldn’t leave any food outside at all — not even a food wrapper in the car, because sometimes bears get into cars if they think they smell food.
Elder offspring: We also had to be careful about bears when we stayed at the cabin near Shasta for [San Diego friends’] wedding. Remember all the bear art with the reminders not to leave food lying around?
Younger offspring: But we didn’t see any bears either place.
Dr. Free-Ride: I think in the cabin near Shasta, the constant lights and sounds of the wedding festivities probably scared most of the bears off.
The One Laptop Per Child program’s Give One Get One promotion (which I blogged about back in November) has been extended through the end of December 31 (today!!).
If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, for $399 ($200 of which is tax deductible) you can donate a spiffy new and super-cool XO laptop to a child in a developing country and get one for yourself.
Santa (who apparently reads this blog) availed himself of the offer and brought an XO laptop to the sprogs. It’s set up with Linux (a plus for many people), although some bits are a little buggy (but free upgrades are expected to be available soon). The favorite feature right now is the video recording capability via the built in camera and microphone.
It’s a neat little feat of engineering, and the OLPC program has a vision of bringing education (not just technology) to families (not just kids) in the developing world. If you’re trying to do a last bit of philanthropy before the calendar turns over, this is an option worth considering.