Eternal Child Hunger Pangs

Today, I met Tiarnan, twenty months, on the stairs. He was going up, I was coming down.

He paused and looked up at me, as he drew level, and opened his mouth to show me a big splash of green, in there. "I'm eating.", he declared.

I could see that. I smiled, for it was the assured way that he said it, that I found humourous.

Then he said, to clarify his position: "I always eat."

He doesn't, really. He eats no more and no more often than any other child. He is not a one child representation of world hunger. Yet, it is interesting to note that, from his perspective, the regularity with which he eats constitutes "always eating".

It seems that he monitors himself and marks his own behaviour for frequency and habit. It is funny to see self-awareness in children so young because, somehow, it is unexpected. Though it may be hard to conceive it, they are much more self-aware and self-determining than one might at first allow. Yes, Tiarnan is a little toddler - but he is also a self-aware intelligence, quite capable of perceiving his own nature and place in the world. A lot goes into those first couple of years of life, I believe - a lot more than one might suppose.

As for Tiarnan, he has the eternal hunger of every child - and his pangs are in common with all little kids.

For me, the best point of this was a subtle one. It was green in his mouth...you try most kids to get to eat vegetables!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)