Children’s conversation, overheard.

Fintan and Tiarnan were deep in conversation, when their mother, Syahidah passed by, a few days ago, and caught a little snippet of what they were saying.

“What is important?”, asked Tiarnan, just turned 7, over a week ago.

“Many things are important,” began Fintan, 9, very seriously, “wearing underwear is important – and COMPUSLORY”.

Syahidah was too overtaken with the hilarity of the moment, to investigate further, and find out the context.

This kind of slightly surreal comedy is not uncommon with our younger two sons. They speak in somewhat off the wall ways, that reveal a characteristic and appealing view of the world. The most bizarre of our sons is Tiarnan, but perhaps the most comedic, is Fintan – though, Ainan, too has a penchant for comedy.

Syahidah left them to discuss the Rules of the World, in their very sober tones, allowing herself a wide smile, at her glimpse into their world.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Modelling for Guess Kids

A few days ago, I had the rather unexpected experience of watching my two youngest boys modelling for Guess Kids clothing. It was a “runway” show, without a runway, since it was actually in the Guess store in Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.

Fintan, 9 and Tiarnan, 6, had been chosen to represent Guess Kids at a live in-store fashion show.  There had been no prior rehearsal, before the day, but on the day, the boys were shown what to do. They were asked to walk through the store to the doorway, where photographers were to be waiting, then they would pose. The lady from Guess Kids asked them to pose – and they duly threw funny faces and postures. This worried me a little since I was concerned that they might not do it properly, when it came down to it. Nevertheless, this was their lighthearted approach to the rehearsal.

Watching them get ready was funny. Both Tiarnan and Fintan had their hair styled.  Fintan was OK with his, since it merely accentuated his natural curls. He was comfortable with that. Tiarnan however, was most unhappy. They had made his hair spiky. When he saw himself in the mirror he was on the edge of tears.

“They are trying to make me look cool.” He said, most put out. “I don’t want to be COOL.”

I tried to persuade him that, actually, he looked very nice. He was, however, completely unconvinced. I had to have a word with the stylist and she duly restyled his hair sans spikes.

After posing for the cameras, they were to walk through the store to the other side, where a group of mothers and children would be waiting. There they were to pose for their customers.

After an hour or so, the show began. Fintan was the second last to be on show, Tiarnan the last. The other three models were all young girls. The girls went first.

To the sound of music, the kids walked through the store one by one. The girls were cute, but they didn’t seem to have a natural flair for the camera. That was not the case with Fintan. When he got to his first posing position, he did such a cool move with his arms that is difficult to describe – he grabbed at the lapels to his jacket, flicked them forward and folded his arms, in a lopsided way, with tilted head, all in one smooth motion. It looked so, dare I say it, COOL (which Tiarnan had so desperately not wanted to seem). Fintan was a definite dude, in that moment. His gesture was greeted with applause and the whirring of cameras.

Then Fintan went and posed in front of the mother’s and kids (who hadn’t seen his display) – and did the same thing, holding his pose at the end, with a very Brandoesque demeanour. The cheers were wild. The compere said: “It seems we have Justin Bieber, here!” The crowd roared louder still, appreciating the reference.

Then it was Tiarnan’s turn. He is the shyer of the two and I did worry about whether he would handle it. He was absolutely fine. He seemed to have learnt a bit about posing from Fintan, since he adopted lopsided folded arm pose, for the crowd – without the cool gesture before it and stared moodily into the cameras. He then did the same for the mothers and kids. This time the compere remarked: “Whaaah. So serious! Models these days, must not smile, but have to SERIOUS!” He then compared Tiarnan to the band One Dimension. Again the crowd appreciated the reference and cheered.

The boys changed quickly for their second set of clothes and repeated the procedure with some variation.

The crowd cheered them – yet they remained so cool in front of them. I felt a definite pride in their composure.

The boys were pleased to learn that they would receive clothes in payment and each, funnily enough, selected some of the clothes they had been asked to try on, for the show.

It was a good afternoon.  I think the experience was confidence building and showed the boys that they could manage themselves in front of a live crowd. As learning experiences go, I think that is one of the more valuable ones, for later life.

Well done my Guess Kids boys!

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Prophecy in a child's eyes

Not infrequently, Fintan’s thoughts turn to the future. On the matter, he is always sober and ruminative. He peers forward and seeks to imagine what he will find one future day. I usually find his views reasonable and likely. He seems to have a good grasp on what may happen. Is it logic that guides him, or intuition? I rather think it is the latter, from the way he seems to feel out a picture of tomorrow.

Yesterday, Fintan, 9, asked me:

“Do you think technology will keep on getting higher?” He seemed to be holding a hidden thought in his mind, as if he were seeking to measure his own thought, against mine, but was holding it back so that I wouldn’t be influenced by his.

“I think it will get better, yes...what do you think?” I held my thought lightly on my tongue, so that it would not pressure his into conformity.

“I think we will have better technology, but will use less of it.” He almost seemed to see this diminished world, before his inner sight.

“Why? Is that because of energy supply problems?”

“Yes.” He was both matter of fact and certain.

“So, although the technology is available, most people won’t be able to afford the energy for them?”

He just gave an affirmative nod, his silence holding an opinion about this yet to be seen world.

As with many conversations with Fintan, I found his conclusions uncomfortably likely. Whatever reasoning processes he went through, the outcome is quite a convincing possible tomorrow.

It is funny to hear him speak so. He is just 9 years old – and what, one wonders , can a 9 year old know of the world? Well, it seems he knows enough of TODAY, to anticipate a far TOMORROW, by some inner projection. He can see where the world is headed. What is darkly funny, of course, is that many of our leaders, with many more than just 9 years, don’t seem to be able to anticipate outcomes, with the same proficiency. He seems to be thinking more, in this way, than many do.

Is Fintan right? Do we face a diminished tomorrow, in which, although our powers of technology are greater, we simply don’t have the energy to power them, to the ubiquity we would like? Is technology to be rationed to the rich?

If we look around us and see that fossil fuels are running out; Uranium is in short supply, and renewables are just not ready, it does seem clear that Mankind faces an energy crisis in the decades ahead. A 9 year old child can sense this...so why are the world’s leaders not making more of it: why are they not preparing more actively for such a world by investing in alternative ways to power it?

The answer seems clear, my little 9 year old son, has a longer term view than most world leaders. Now, that IS sobering.

I like these chats with Fintan, for he prompts me to reflect on times ahead, some of which I may never see. It is good, though, that he considers the future he may one day live through. I think, he will have prepared himself, mentally, for the challenges ahead, for having modelled them, in advance. There is no better preparation than forethought – and Fintan does plenty of that.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

The essence of fatherhood.

Today, The Star newspaper, of Malaysia, published an article they had commissioned from me, on fatherhood. In the article, I have tried to encapsulate our style of parenting in seven parenting principles. These principles form the basis of how we have raised our kids. They are also the principles which allowed our eldest child to develop into a child prodigy.

I am very curious as to what you think of the article. So, let me know what you like about it, below, if you will.

The article is to be found here:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2012/6/13/lifeliving/11458603&sec=lifeliving

Please share it with your own readers by linking to it from whatever sites you have. I hope that my parenting principles get to be read by many people. I would like to think they helped some people, particularly children. Thank you.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Fintan's philosophy of gamesmanship.

Fintan, eight, is a quirky boy, in some ways. Yet, there is wisdom in his offbeat viewpoints. Today provided an example.

Fintan played Gaelic football, today, with his little brother Tiarnan. After he came home, he told his mother of a stratagem he had used.

“If you want to win a game,” he began, with a sense of revelation, “pretend you are not playing.”

That thought sunk teasingly into his mother’s mind and jogged her interest.

“Walk slowly across the pitch, as if you are not really there, then, when the ball comes near you, leap on it and kick it as hard as you can!” He laughed, joyously, at his own cunning ploy.

Syahidah laughed too.

Later on, my laughter sounded too, when I heard the tale from my wife.

“Fintan is a social strategist.”, I observed to her. “That will take him far in life.”

She agreed.

I think this incident speaks clearly of the nature of Fintan’s thinking. He is very much aware of the social sphere and of the content of other’s people’s thoughts. He uses his predictions of what they will think, to devise strategies to achieve his goals. He does this automatically and is probably unaware of any effort attached – he just sees, reflexively, what to do, in a social situation to make it work out well for him. This, of course, means that he has plenty of friends. Indeed, people of all ages respond well to Fintan. This is a kind of gift which is too often overlooked – but I think that, of all the gifts one could have, it is undoubtedly among the most useful in life and the most helpful in achieving success. It is the one gift many intelligent children lack. Without it, they are most unlikely ever to achieve their “potential”. That, at least, shall not be Fintan’s fate. I expect him to grow to be most comfortable in the social world and adept within it. What he will make of that skill I do not know, but, from the hints of his attitudes, I would be unsurprised to find him becoming a businessman of some kind. Whatever he chooses to do, I know this: he won’t be alone and there will always be friends in his life. Oh and he will be pretty good at any game involving people.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The Cawley Team.

My wife, Syahidah remarked today on the curiously complementary dissimilarity, of our three sons. They each have a different skillset and even mindset.

“I have realized that our boys each have different strengths,”, she began with an engaged smile. “There is Ainan, the ideas man; Fintan, the businessman and Tiarnan, the engineer.”

“They should start a tech company together, their skills blend perfectly for the task.”, I observed.

Syahidah agreed.

“In fact, that is one type of person Ainan approves of...the heads and founders of science and tech corporations...maybe he will be one, one day, working with his brothers.”

Privately I thought of another set of three brothers who worked together to form a company: the Abdul Halim brothers, known as “KRU”, behind Kru Studios – a film production company in Malaysia. One brother, Norman Abdul Halim is the finance man, as I understand it – the businessman; another Edry Abdul Halim is a Director with strengths in musical composition and Yusry Abdul Halim who is a Director with a Visual Effects background. They each bring a different skill profile to the task. So, there certainly are some brothers who do blend their skills to build companies.

The thing about the differing skills and minds of our three sons, is that each is uncanny in their own way – but those ways are so different from each other, that it is a wonder they could be brothers, at all. They each have a different way of thinking, a different set of primary strengths and their own way of looking at the world. It seems that the process of genetic inheritance of mental attributes is complex indeed, and may give rise to immense variation – at least, perhaps, from parents who themselves show immense variation and breadth in their skillsets.

So, I wonder whether they will team up, one day and work together, our little ideas man, our little businessman and our little engineer. If they do, what will they create? What world will they usher in, together?

I hope I am around to see. It would be sweet if they do work together. Too many families don’t know how to do that and I feel that the families which do, are stronger for it and more successful, ultimately. I hope that the family I have created is one of them.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Girls Talk

No conversations are more amusing, or perhaps, more informative about the nature of Man, than the wisdom of young children. They are accustomed to see more truly, and speak more openly, for they have not yet learnt reasons to hide their thoughts, nor soften their observations.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, who has just turned six, complained to his mother:

“Fintan likes girls singing!” He seemed somewhat appalled at the idea.

“So?”, countered his mother, “They sound nice.”

He wasn’t convinced.

“I don’t like girls talking.”, he said, unwilling to give up his viewpoint.

“I am a girl.”, said his mother, reasonably, “I talk.”

“I like you talking, Mummy.”, he confessed. “I don’t like girls talking.”

At that moment, Fintan, eight, leaned forward intently and spoke pointedly.

“Tiarnan, in this world, 90% of all talking is by girls.”

Tiarnan considered that figure and couldn’t quite muster anything to counter it. Anyway, he would have been distracted by the laughter of his mother.

I found this exchange hilarious when Syahidah later reported it to me. Fintan’s comment might not be politically correct, but even though he is only eight years old, he has observed enough about people to have noticed that many a girl is more verbal than boys usually are. So, there is an element of truth in his view, even if “90%” might be an exaggeration.

I find this kind of conversation very appealing, for it reveals to me evidence of my children’s world models, that they have formed in their minds. I see, through their words, the world that they see, with its categorizations, understandings, purposes and values. It is most enlightening. What is most amazing is how quickly young children seem to form models of the world. Even very young children have interesting views about how the world works and what it all means. You just have to pause to listen to them to peer into another world, one both alike and unlike our own – but informed, nevertheless, by a surprising degree of logic and observation.

I wonder whether Fintan will still think, in ten years time, when he will be eighteen, that girls are responsible for 90% of the world’s speech. I shall remember his words of yesterday and remind him of them, when that time comes. It will be interesting to see how he responds. I expect that he will laugh at his boyhood remark. We shall see.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The birds and the bees.

It is ever illuminating to see the world through a child’s eyes. Once grown up, this is quite a challenge, however, as a parent, all I have to do is listen, to know again, the thoughts of a child and their perspectives on the world.

Today, Fintan, eight, approached his mother in a reflective mood. His voice was soft and insightful.

“Mummy,” he began, intently, “I think it is harder to be a girl...”

Her ears perked up and her eyes gazed down on her middle son.

“...because girls have to give birth.”

She was touched by his words, for she learnt, in that moment, that her son understood what every mother goes through, to create their children. To have such appreciation, from her young son, was warming indeed.

I like seeing my children come to their own understanding of the world. More interestingly, I like to see them come to their own views on it – to see them weigh issues and come to judgements. Usually, I let them come to their own views, and do not impose mine. It is much better for a child to think their own thoughts and form their own view on the world. It is also much more interesting. Children who have been indoctrinated too much – as some children are – are always so dull. It is much more refreshing to hear a child’s genuine thoughts, based on their own personal thinking – and that is what I hear, everyday, in my household. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Today, Fintan made my wife very happy – simply because he shared one of his own thoughts. Beautiful.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)