Tiarnan's hungry tummy

It was a couple of months ago, now. We had just been shopping and were wending our way past various shops, to get to the taxi rank.

Suddenly, Tiarnan, fourteen months, made a detour. We were passing a restaurant that had placed tables and chairs out onto the pathway, when Tiarnan made a silent decision: he climbed up on to a chair, of a table at the restaurant to sit down.

Clearly, Tiarnan was hungry and wanted us to stop to eat there. I thought it was funny and revealing from several points of view. Firstly, was that it was the wrong time of day for most people to eat and so there was NO-ONE outside the restaurant eating. There was no food to be seen and no indication (by direct sight) of the fact that food would be available there. Somehow, he had assessed that this place was a restaurant, though he could see no food - and he had further judged that, by sitting down there, he would be served food and would solve his hunger problem. (It should be noted that we rarely eat out - perfectly good food being readily available at home (!) - and so Tiarnan does not have any real direct experience of restaurants.)

We had other ideas and picked him up from the chair and carried him away, where we would feed him in our own way.

It was interesting to see that instead of asking us about his hunger, that he decided to do something about it himself. It was amusing to see his little form sat upon the tall chair, of the restaurant, his head not much above the level of the table, waiting to be served.

There is so much to be understood about the contents of a young child's mind, simply by watching what they do and examining what those actions mean - and much of it turns out to be funny.

It is also interesting to note how much a little child understands about how the world works, from their own observations. They often understand much more than one would suppose.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, now sixteen months, or his gifted brothers, including Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and six months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)