Random example of my weirdness as a parent….
A few minutes ago I shouted at my daughter, “They HAVE to tell you about the astronomical basis of that!” I’ll let y’all figure out what that was about on your own.
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amba (Annie Gottlieb) said,
June 14, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Your daughter will do fine.
mockturtle said,
June 14, 2012 at 6:16 pm
What weirdness?
Icepick said,
June 14, 2012 at 6:45 pm
MT, my daughter turned two last week.
mockturtle said,
June 14, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Yes, but she is no doubt precocious, like her father. ;-)
TT Burnett said,
June 14, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Maybe it was like when I was in first grade. We were practicing to do a “Living Rosary” for a Catholic high school football half-time show during Advent. All the little ones—from Holy Rosary School, of course—held candles and formed the shape of a Rosary on the field. (I know this sounds weird, but it WAS the ’50’s.)
Anyway, being around 4:00 in an early Winter’s afternoon, stars were slowly becoming visible in the pale, darkening sky. One of the little girls asked, “Sister Helen, why do the stars come out one by one?” Without missing a beat, Sister Helen replied in her charming, somewhat faded brogue, “Ah, that’s because they’re God’s little candles, bein’ lit by th’ Angels.”
Thinking about that scene and that answer today brings a tear to my eye. The sweet little girl, Sister Helen, with goodness and love etched on every line of her face, illuminated by her life of self-sacrifice for the sake of children like us, and that poetic answer ready to her quick, Irish wit, all combined to make one of the most lovely moments I’ve ever experienced.
Or so I think now.
At the time I had another opinion. I had been precociously reading my father’s Van Nostrand Scientific Encyclopedia, and already knew about atmospheric scattering of light, etc. My thought was, “Here is the uniformed representative of the One True Church telling us a lie. I wonder how many other things they’re telling us aren’t true?”
Oh, the seeds of Doubt.
I sometimes tell that story to my students at a Catholic middle school where I teach, and point out to them if you want the astronomical basis, you should look it up on the internet, but, often, if you want the truth of something, you should consult the poetry around it first, and leave the facts to Wikipedia.
Donna B. said,
June 14, 2012 at 10:02 pm
I think my oldest granddaughter was almost 4 before she could say the alphabet instead of singing it.
You were talking about that melody weren’t you?
mockturtle said,
June 14, 2012 at 10:07 pm
About internet sources: An acquaintance who is a historian [American history] included in an online publication a certain quote by John Adams that I knew to be slightly inaccurate. When I tactfully pointed it out, he insisted his quote was correct because it came from an archive pdf file he trusted. I told him that I had an old, hard-copy volume of John Adams’ work that included the accurate quote and urged him to look it up in another source. He found his hard volume [it took a lot longer!!! No word search!] but found and corrected the quote. Just a caveat.
Ice, I didn’t intend to hijack your thread. Really.
Icepick said,
June 14, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Ice, I didn’t intend to hijack your thread. Really.
What’s to hijack? It’s a conversation, go for it!
mockturtle said,
June 14, 2012 at 10:47 pm
Ice, I am eager to hear what the issue was with your daughter [not being precocious, I can’t guess]. AND what her response was to your exclamation.
Icepick said,
June 15, 2012 at 12:00 am
MT, you are WAY overthinking this!
Cat was watching some children’s show or another. (Bad parenting on my part, but worn out from a tough day at Sea World (best value in Central Florida for a local) I was looking for anything to keep my daughter distracted. She hardly napped yesterday, and had largely refused to nap today as well. She gets that from me, and her being wired had left me wired. And I’m wired again now or _I_ would be in bed like a reasonable human being.)
Anyhow, she was watching some show, I believe it was Team Umizoomi. They started to discuss the seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. The explanation was along the lines of “Spring follows Winter, and that’s when it gets warm again.” GRRRR. That’s when it gets warm again? WHY DOES IT GET WARM AGAIN?! That’s when I shouted. Cat’s response was to look at me with eyebrows raised and then return her attention to the TV.
Precocious? She might be. More like crazed and lazy on my part!
Donna, I have explained nuclear fusion to her after singing “Twinkle, twinkle little star”. I don’t have to wonder what they are, and neither will she! When she gets older I’ll let her know that there are still some problems with cosmology generally. I’m going to let the missus handle creation myths.
mockturtle said,
June 15, 2012 at 12:47 am
Does this mean fairy tales are OUT?
Icepick said,
June 15, 2012 at 12:57 am
No, fairy tales are in. But non-explanation explanations of natural phenomena are RIGHT OUT!
mockturtle said,
June 15, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Ice, I guess I was just tweaking you a bit. Sometimes you seem so darned tweakable I can’t resist! :-)
karen said,
June 16, 2012 at 1:10 pm
I didn’t even know what an astronomical reason for things.
At least i get to live it.
Anyone ever seen ~All About Steve~? Voted, like worst movie and worst actress(Sandra Bullock) the same yr she won best actress for ~The Blindside~.
I LOVE this movie– i love it.
It’s crazy.
TT- we do a living rosary during May, but i don’t participate. I should(cue Catholic guilt)- but, i don’t. I love Sr. Helen.