My nephew has inherited my brother's smarts. It is amazing what directions and connections the kid's brain can make. I love it so I thought I'd share this funny story.
We were at the pond one day. My boyfriend and I walked him around it feeding the fish as we went. He knows what bluegill, catfish, and small bass are from fishing. He's able to identify them and point out the differences. (I'm so proud!) So we start talking about seeing bits of certain fish and not knowing for sure what they are, hedging our guesses with little tidbits of logic and fact.
My nephew interrupts with "They're bigfoot fish!" At first, I was confused and then I quickly realized the connections his brain had gone through to reach his decision. With a little discussion from him of course.
Follow this and remember, a four year old put it together.
1. Bigfoot is a creature no one can prove exists, except to point at little pieces of evidence
2. He's a creature everyone argues over... there, not there... real, not real
3. Our mystery fish only have little pieces of evidence
4. We were arguing over it
So... tada... A+B= Bigfoot fish. So I congratulated him on his thinking skills and promptly began calling them bigfoot fish. So, yes, my pond is stocked with a plethora of fish; bluegill, catfish, bass, vegetarian carp, and bigfoot fish. You got a problem with that?
*laughs* Imagine how wonderful the world would be if we actually took the time to listen to a child explain it for us. Not to mention if we fostered their imagination and creativity. My mother always let me have my stories, letting me go on and on about my adventures with trolls and gnomes and ninjas.. whatever my wild mind envisioned. And, now, I'm a writer comfortable with what my imagination tosses at me. Maybe a little too comfortable at being crazy, but I'm happy with who I am and unashamed. I can offer my nephew nothing less for his strokes of genius.
Trust me, talk to a kid for a little bit- better yet, just listen. Suddenly the world is shiny and new.
Jennifer
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