Children and pet animals

When I was a boy - oh so long ago - we had a pet cat. Just one. Yet, being resourceful, this pet cat one day turned into a pregnant female. Then we had many cats. Though that was several cat generations ago, there are still cats to this day, descended from our very smart sole kitten, of my childhood days, at my parents home.

Now, there is a dog, too - a large Sicilian Corso: dramatic, powerful, watchful. A good dog to have around if you like giving intruders a nasty surprise.

Yet, here, in Singapore, where we now live, we have no pet animals. We live on the top floor of an apartment block (the "penthouse") and thought it cruel to have a conventional pet, in such restrictive surroundings. It would not be fair to the poor animal to be cooped up in a small space all day. In my mind, I compare the spacious surroundings of my childhood, with apartment living and just can't see a pet as part of it.

However, my children love animals. They seem to have an affinity for them which just won't go away. They engage with animals much as frustrated mothers-who-can't-be engage with other people's little children: with love, affection and just a little sadness. It should not be this way - but I just cannot see the run-of-the-mill animals living in a top-floor apartment with comfort. So, we have a pet-free apartment.

Yesterday, Fintan, who is the prime animal lover in our household, came up with his own solution. I came home to find a large collection of very small (for the most part) snails, in front of my apartment door. At least one had come upon a fatal accident (perhaps a mis-step by someone entering the house) - but the others were lively enough, moving around in what, no doubt was a panicked run, for a snail, as they sought more familiar territory than the stone tiling outside my house.

Fintan, Ainan and Tiarnan were all captivated, in their various ways, by the snails. Fintan, simply had a fascination for them; Ainan saw them as a scientific phenomenon to be observed and learnt from - and Tiarnan thought they were yukky: "Eek!" he said, when he saw them, his face wrinkled up with disgust.

What I thought most telling of my children's attitude to other life-forms, was seeing Fintan, walking around later in the day with the biggest of the snails perched on his hand. He had brought into the house to play with and was not at all squeamish about its slimey form. He was very careful not to hurt it and invariably moved it about by picking it up with its shell. At one point, he wanted to show its form, pointing out the various parts to me and showing what happened when he prodded it in various places - gently of course. "Don't hurt it!" I said. "I am not." he reassured calmly, placing it down again.

They spent quite some time playing with their "pet" snails. They even tried to put out some food for them: I noted delicately sliced banana laid down in the midst of the snail colony. That evening they put the snails on a stairwell. Ainan asked me to buy lettuce - which I duly did. And he placed what he considered a generous sized leaf out for them to have something to eat in the barren landscape of the stairwell.

Seeing all this made me a little sad that they did not have a household pet to play with. Clearly, the urge to "mother" an animal, to nurture a pet, to play with one and learn from one, was strong in them: so strong that they even made snails from the garden into pets.

Perhaps a reader of this post, will have some suggestions as to child-friendly pets that live comfortably in top-floor apartments, without being messy or smelly to have around (we have got three kids, so that is messy enough already!).

If anyone has a really good suggestion, based on actual experience of what that particular pet is like to have around, we might just get a pet to satisfy those pet-rearing instincts of my children.

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen 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, genetics, left-handedness, College, University, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Does College make you fat?

I remember being slim once. It was before I went to University. So slender was I, that I even had the proverbial "six-pack". Ah well. So, am I alone in my observation? Am I the only one to leave University heavier than when I arrived?

No. Not by a long way, if a 2005 study by researchers at Washington University, St. Louis is anything to go by. The work was published in the Journal of American College Health.

Principal investigator, Susan S. Deusinger, obtained height and weight data for 764 incoming freshmen at Washington University. At the end of the year, students being students (and therefore implicitly unreliable) only 290 returned for reassessment, despite being offered financial incentives.

However this was enough to decide whether the folklore of the "Freshman 15" (the number of pounds you would gain, along with your courseload in your first year), had any substance. It did. But not quite 15 pounds. Seventy per cent of freshmen students gained an average of nine pounds in their first year.

Researchers were unable to pinpoint a cause. They noted that there were no noticeable changes in dietary habits, or exercise levels from the start of the year, to the end (awful at both ends, by all accounts). Whatever the cause of the gain, it does show that going to College, does make you fat.

Parents of College going children, have, thus, one more thing to worry about: the health of their offspring. It might be wise to educate them a little in wise food choices - and other lifestyle measures, before they leave your sight.

Note, however, that this study only examined the American college student population - it did not address the issue of whether this was a global phenomenon (though it probably is).

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen 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, genetics, left-handedness, College, University, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Left-handedness and divergent thinking

My son, Ainan, 7, is left-handed. Curious to what degree left-handedness may contribute to his creative, prodigious gifts, I have been doing some research. What I have found is of interest to any parent of a left-handed person, anyone who is left-handed, or anyone who is interested in the nature of giftedness, talent and genius.

A study by Dr. Stanley Coren entitled: "Differences in Divergent Thinking as a Function of Handedness and Sex" in The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 108, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 311-325 doi:10.2307/1422892 looked into the matter of whether left-handedness had any association with divergent thinking, and how this was correlated with the sex of the left-handed person.

Various tests were administered to the subjects. Test 1 concerned Alternate Uses; test 2 was of Object Synthesis and Test 3 was of Ideational Flexibility. The final test was a test of convergent thinking (traditionally measured by IQ tests).

There was no correlation between left-handedness and performance on the Alternate Uses test. However, on the second and third tests (which were both measures of kinds of divergent thinking), there was a strong, positive correlation between left-handedness and performance in the test. Interestingly, the more left-handed (or sinistral, as it is termed, scientifically) the subject the better their performance in these tests. The fourth test of convergent thinking was also revealing in that there was no benefit to sinistrality in this test: subjects of both left and right-handedness performed similarly.

This experiment shows that left-handers have a distinct advantage in tasks involving divergent thinking, compared to right-handers - but show no difference in their ability to handle convergent tasks.

What, practically speaking does this mean? Well, one conclusion, that is glaring for me, is that conventional tests of ability of left-handed kids, might overlook their gifts. You see, IQ tests only address convergent thinking ability. Left-handers have a strength in divergent thinking. Thus testing for gifted programmes and the like would tend to underestimate the left-handed children because their strength - divergent thinking - will not reveal itself in conventional testing. Thus a gifted child, in the truest sense of the word, might be overlooked if they are left-handed, for they will have a hidden talent, not obvious to the conventional tests.

This evidence that left-handed people are stronger in divergent thinking agrees perfectly with what I have observed in Ainan since his birth. He has a very strong aptitude for divergent thinking (allied to a very strong aptitude for convergent thinking, too, I might add). This divergence of thinking shows itself in everything that he does - he is always coming up with new ideas and new ways and new understandings, while learning, observing or just thinking aloud to me.

Interestingly, history has many examples of good divergent thinkers who were left-handed: Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Picasso, and H.G. Wells, for instance. It is telling that the two greatest physicists of all time, should both have been left-handed. Curious, that.

So, if your child is left-handed, do not be concerned, be happy - or even excited. Left-handedness confers a strength in divergent thinking that equips the gifted child to think in new and better ways. Such a child may grow up to do many things not open to the conventionally gifted child whose strength is convergent thinking alone.

By the way, Stanley Coren's study showed NO correlation between handedness and divergent thinking for girls. This correlation only applied to the boys.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 7 years and 8 months, a scientific child prodigy, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 4 years and 1 month, or Tiarnan, 18 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, genetics, left-handedness, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, gifted adults, and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Social skills in toddlers

Tiarnan is eighteen months old. Though yet young, he has shown, on many occasions, an unexpected social adroitness that is often funny in its aptness.

A week ago, Tiarnan was moving about a lot in a taxi.

His mother, Syahidah, said: "Sit down."

"I don't want to." he replied firmly and continued to investigate the interior of the taxi, energetically.

Seeing that her own request wasn't working, Syahidah tried another tack.

"The uncle will scold you.", she said, referring to the taxi driver.

He stopped, then, to observe the taxi driver.

The driver duly played along and looked fiercely at Tiarnan.

Yet, Tiarnan wasn't phased. He clambered forward to the centre of the taxi, betwixt the seats, leant forward, and gently patted the driver on his forearm, to pacify him, all the time looking up into his face.

It was such a disarming thing to do, and so aptly timed, that, had the driver genuinely been angry, I am sure that that would have mollified him: who could be angry after such a display?

It is often surprising how complex, subtle and appropriate the social behaviour of a young child can be. Particularly, if that child has shown some skill in social circumstances. Tiarnan is one such: he always seem to know what to do, to create just the right result for him.

(If you would like to learn more of Tiarnan, eighteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or Fintan, four years and one month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, genetics, left-handedness, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

School food and allergy management

Like many children, Fintan, four, has his allergies - foods to which he responds negatively, in varying degrees. Prime among these allergenic foods are, unfortunately, cow's milk, soy and wheat. These are common foods found in a surprising range of products.

We told his school about the situation before he started there. As is the way of institutions promises were made, and assurances given - but were they kept? Has his school behaved responsibly on the issue of Fintan's allergies?

Well, any reasonable institution that respected the wishes of the parents and guarded the health of its charges would, of course, have done everything to ensure that Fintan was not exposed to the allergens that he has been shown to respond to. That, however, has not been our experience.

As regular readers will know, he came home from school one day, speaking of the "bread with sugar on it" and french fries that he had been given to eat. Now apart from being absolute junk food, the first of the two items is made of one of his prime allergens: wheat. This is not very reassuring.

Last week, he spoke of having eaten: "Hot dogs and cheese." Here we go again: dairy and wheat - plus a dollop of junk food.

I duly rang his school to complain about the food. What transpired was very interesting for what it said about the values of the Principal. She denied everything. She said that no such food had ever been served him. She said they were aware of his allergies.

I listened to this nonsense until she had quite finished and I then pointed out that the first occasion had been confirmed in person by one of her teachers.

She responded with a watchful silence.

I also pointed out that Fintan knows what particular foods are - and he doesn't lie. If he said that he had been given certain foods to eat, then sure enough he had.

She conceded this point with a grunt, finally admitting, in this reluctant way, the truth of what I had been told.

I then asked if he could be given fruit instead of nonsense.

She said: "We do have fruit."

Interesting, then, that Fintan has never mentioned it - and all he has ever mentioned is utter junk.

"Could we send him in with a packed lunch, then?" I asked, finally, seeking the only solution that would reassure me that all was well with his food intake.

"We don't have that policy.", she refused, firmly.

I see. It is not considered good policy to allow one's charges to be fed real food - and food free of allergens to which they respond.

Imagine. Just imagine, that this school was in charge of a child with a peanut allergy, (and, therefore subject to anaphylactic shock and risk of death). How would they explain to the parents that, through ignoring the wishes of the parents, on the issue of food, that their child had been killed by the food fed them, so carelessly?

Luckily for us, Fintan's reactions are generally restricted to rashes - but still, the principle applies: the parent's wishes regarding food for their child should NEVER be ignored. A parent would not trouble themselves to inform a school of something unless it were so.

I feel that this school doesn't take our request seriously. Well, they should. Persistent exposure to the allergen often worsens the response to it. The child gets sicker and sicker at each exposure. Basically, the school, in ignoring our wishes, is endangering Fintan's health.

In a more litigious society, like the US, I suppose that a school like Fintan's would soon be put out of business through being sued. That is not the way, here, however - partly because litigation is just so expensive.

The Principal, having been caught out in her untruth, has promised that Fintan's food will be watched carefully in future. I have no great confidence that this will be so, given their past performance.

In such a situation, there is only one option remaining: if the school continues to behave irresponsibly, move him elsewhere.

I confess we have thought about it, in response to their behaviour. The only issue that holds us back is that Fintan is settled there and has built up some friendships. It would be sad for him to move on, therefore.

We shall watch and wait.

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, four years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or Tiarnan, eighteen 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, genetics, left-handedness, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

International Left-Handers Day: August 13th.

Today marks an international celebration of left-handedness.

Left-handedness is found in about 7 to 10% of the population. Throughout history, left-handers have been subject to suspicion and marginalization in many cultures, yet recent research has pointed out some interesting gifts that left-handers possess.

To be left-handed is to be different in more fundamental ways than the hand which you choose to write with: it goes deep into the very wiring of the brain. A left-hander's brain is visibly different in form and structure than a right-handers. These differences are critical to understanding the fundamental differences between left and right handers.

Normally the brain, which is divided into two halves in almost all humans (in some cases it is fused, I understand), consists of two different sized halves. For a right hander, one half is larger than the other. For a left-hander, this disparity is not seen: the two halves of the brain are of similar size. There is a good reason for this that we will get onto in a minute.

The left-hander also has a thicker corpus callosum - the bridge that connects the two halves of the brain- than a right-hander. This affords the left-hander greater communication power or "bandwidth" between the left and right halves of the brain. This is key to understanding the advantage that a left-hander holds.

When the brain is confronted with a difficult challenge: either a fast or a hard task, or one that has multiple stimuli at the same time, one half of the brain may easily become overwhelmed. Here is where the left-hander wins. You see when confronted with fast and or multiple stimuli, the left-handed brain will recruit processing power from the other half of the brain. The left hander will share the task across its two fairly equal hemispheres. In this way, the task load on one hemisphere is reduced and the task is more easily overcome. Right handers don't do this well. They rely on the power of their dominant hemisphere to handle the task and are not so good at recruiting assistance from their other brain hemisphere.

Thus, in fast-moving, challenging domains, the left-hander is superior to the right hander. This may be seen in sports, gaming or in any situation that has multiple stimuli. Particular - and critical cases - of this would include fighter pilots - or indeed civilian pilots, in which they are faced with the simultaneous input of a large amount of information in which all must be dealt with at the same time.

In simple terms, the left-hander thinks quicker than the right hander, when the task demands much of them.

It should be noted that this innate advantage for the left-hander will only be noticeable when it is called upon. In slow-moving tasks, without multiple stimuli, the advantage that left-handers possess will not be seen. However, put two people in a situation in which they are pushed to handle a lot of information at the same time - and the left hander of the two, will shine. The right hander will quickly get overloaded by the excessive mental workload.

So, perhaps it is time to acknowledge the gifts of the left-handers among us. Some cultures still find it difficult to accept them as they are, and still encourage them to use their right hand, like "everyone else". This is a mistake. The left-hander is fundamentally not like right handers. They are neurologically and distinct - and have something unique to offer us all.

A left-hander is best for any task that requires a high-throughput of multiple stimuli. So that is where they should be - in fast, hard, demanding roles, with much happening at the same time. That is where they can best make their most natural contribution: the one that plays to their strengths.

This strength of left-handers is commonly known as being good at multi-tasking. So, if it is a multi-tasking role - let the left-handers, handle it.

As careful readers of this blog will already have noted, Ainan, 7, my son, is a left-hander. Most of the rest of the family is mixed handed (ambidextrous) in some way. I will write more of this topic in future.

So, if you have a left-handed child don't adopt the concern of the right handed culture in which we live, that it is somehow unacceptable or problematic: it is not. Left-handedness, as now understood, is a kind of gift in and of itself. It is a misunderstood blessing - so be happy.

This new understanding of left-handedness was written of in an article in the journal Neuropsychology, by the Australian National University researcher Dr Nick Cherbuin. It was published in November 2006.

(If you would like to read of my left-handed son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen 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, genetics, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children. Thanks.)

A nation of hidden talents: Singapore.

On Thursday of this week, my wife and I went to a strange kind of party, in Singapore. It was a kind of party I had never been to before.

It was held in someone's HDB flat. HDB stands for the Housing Development Board. It is the government provider of public housing to about 85% to 90 % of all Singaporeans. For those of you who have never been to Singapore, most people here live in apartments in towers of twelve or more stories (some are very much taller). So, this was a normal Singaporean home.

Most people sat on the floor, there being insufficient seating for the, perhaps, 30 or so people in attendance. For the first hour and a half, people mingled and talked, getting acquainted. But then, at about 8.30 pm, something unusual began to happen. One by one, the guests got up to stand to one side of the room, and sang.

I didn't expect much from this, for I had seen the Singapore Idol (a local version of the American Idol) and noted that, although they laboured under the belief that they could, most entrants to that show, could not sing well at all.

Yet, I was surprised. The evening passed in a mixture of classical, pop, rock and country songs sang with passion, love and attention. Some of the performers were nervous before an audience, showing both their youth and inexperience. But some were polished performers, very much at ease. Some of them irritated, somewhat, by preening and admiring themselves as they sang. I am not going to speculate on the cause of such behaviour. But others surprised in other ways: by just being damned good.

One girl, in particular, shone. She was of a delicate build - very, very skinny, in fact, and not at all tall. She introduced herself by saying she had "Never sung this song before" - at which everyone laughed a little, perhaps believing otherwise. Then she began. There emerged from her mouth the most assured, powerful, well-pitched and agile voice I have ever heard in live performance. Quite astonishing. The song she sang was a classical one. Clearly, she had practiced this song endlessly - despite her claim at the outset. The ecstatic applause she received was well-deserved.

There was a very tall man, too, who sang classically and rather well.

What I did note, however, was that those who sang particularly well, could only do so with classical music. They were unable to handle pop or rock. (That included the star singer described above - she was much less assured with a pop tune). Perhaps this is why none of them has ever appeared on Singapore Idol. There was one girl, however, who was comfortable with pop: the one who preened.

I learnt something sad, yet hopeful about this particular gathering of singers and musicians. They exist because they are outside the mainstream. They are unable to open the doors to the few opportunities that exist in Singapore for musical talent - and so, they come together regularly, to sing, at these "secret" soirees.

Singapore is a country that, historically, has had few outlets for creative or performance artists, to express their abilities. It has been a society focussed directly on activities that are more certain to produce an economic return. In this manner, it has been, for much of its history, a city without a thriving culture. In recent years, there has been some effort to change this, the government having recognized that, without a healthy culture, there is not a healthy city. The missing aspect of the arts, is something that diminishes the city's allure for foreigners - and locals alike. So, it has begun to encourage the growth of a local arts scene. Yet, there is much work to do and too few real opportunities for those who would follow an artistic career path of any kind. Quite simply, there is not enough work to make a living, for those who aspire to such a life.

Some of this group are, however, working together to launch two musicals, in Singapore, later this year. I wish them well.

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen 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, genetics, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, creatively gifted, gifted children, and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)