Poor Huggy Nun.
Big Son, who spent the first few weeks of school either quiet and bewildered, or angry and bewildered, has come out of his shell like a mollusk on steroids. Not only is he asking questions -- he`s asking extra questions to which he already knows the answers, leading me to think he simply wants to satisfy his insatiable craving for interaction and attention, and make up for lost time.
His teachers, who had been patiently trying to get him to open up, are now trying to gently teach boundaries to the monster they helped create. Okay, so it`s not that bad, and overall it`s a good thing, but suddenly they`ve realized why I`ve been complaining so much about helping Big Son with his homework.
I explained that he`s used to lots of individual attention. For two years in Tokyo, he was in a class with only four students at his underpopulated urban elementary school. When that school closed due to dropping enrollment, he moved to another class of only 17 kids, and he was one of the class leaders. His teacher told me he asked questions all the time, but that was definitely a positive there. Since he had been doing well in school over there, his questions didn`t hold the class up they way they`re doing now.
Huggy Nun came over to me today in the schoolyard and hugged me, and I knew that was a bad sign. She put her head on my shoulder --- she`s very short, so it`s easy for her to do this. For one horrible minute, I thought she was going to start crying.
But instead she told me that she spent most of one class today, explaining to Big Son the difference between "fact" and "opinion," and she was still not sure he had it straight.
Big Son walked over to us, and I asked him if he knew the difference.
He said, "Yeah, I know, but how can you always be sure which is which? If someone says the sun is green, and you don`t know what color the sun really is, you can`t say whether they`re saying a fact or just their opinon."
"Lord have mercy," whispered Huggy Nun into my shoulder.
Big Son was trying to make the point that if you have no idea what a given statement means, or if it`s true or not, then you can`t distinguish whether it`s one or the other. At least, I think that`s what he was saying.
I realized that I was exactly Big Son`s age when I started wondering whether the existence of God was fact or opinion.
Perhaps Huggy Nun sees this coming next?
Or perhaps he`s simply driving her crazy.
Poor Huggy Nun.
His teachers, who had been patiently trying to get him to open up, are now trying to gently teach boundaries to the monster they helped create. Okay, so it`s not that bad, and overall it`s a good thing, but suddenly they`ve realized why I`ve been complaining so much about helping Big Son with his homework.
I explained that he`s used to lots of individual attention. For two years in Tokyo, he was in a class with only four students at his underpopulated urban elementary school. When that school closed due to dropping enrollment, he moved to another class of only 17 kids, and he was one of the class leaders. His teacher told me he asked questions all the time, but that was definitely a positive there. Since he had been doing well in school over there, his questions didn`t hold the class up they way they`re doing now.
Huggy Nun came over to me today in the schoolyard and hugged me, and I knew that was a bad sign. She put her head on my shoulder --- she`s very short, so it`s easy for her to do this. For one horrible minute, I thought she was going to start crying.
But instead she told me that she spent most of one class today, explaining to Big Son the difference between "fact" and "opinion," and she was still not sure he had it straight.
Big Son walked over to us, and I asked him if he knew the difference.
He said, "Yeah, I know, but how can you always be sure which is which? If someone says the sun is green, and you don`t know what color the sun really is, you can`t say whether they`re saying a fact or just their opinon."
"Lord have mercy," whispered Huggy Nun into my shoulder.
Big Son was trying to make the point that if you have no idea what a given statement means, or if it`s true or not, then you can`t distinguish whether it`s one or the other. At least, I think that`s what he was saying.
I realized that I was exactly Big Son`s age when I started wondering whether the existence of God was fact or opinion.
Perhaps Huggy Nun sees this coming next?
Or perhaps he`s simply driving her crazy.
Poor Huggy Nun.
posted by L. at 9:36 PM
3 Comments:
Hi - Isn't it nice to have one who thinks? What is a fact and what is an opinion. What a great question.
Even though it may drive his teachers crazy now, I'm sure it will help him later on.
Never take anything at face value. The loudest voice isn't always spouting the right answer.
Too many people proclaim opinions as if they were facts.
Smart boy. If you asked me what color my house is, I could tell you what I think it is, but even I don't know for sure -- it's hard to tell from the inside. I think it's almond with chocolate trim, but an airplane full of paint could have dropped its load on it recently. Or, perhaps a group of surrealist terrorists painted black? Heck, it might even be that when I look at it, I see almond/chocolate but everyone else sees green and yellow.
Tell him there are a lot more opinions in the world than there are facts -- most of what people will tell you is their opinion.
If you think about it, having a child that questions everything rather than agree is les likely to end up in those scary situations (sexual assult, kidnapping, stealing, etc).
I would rather my daughter questioned everything and everyone.
I may regret saying this later whne she has turned +16 and driving me crazy.
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