The Secret of the Power Rangers

Are the Power Rangers hiding an operational secret? Fintan has the answer.

Yesterday, we decided to go to the Jewel Box on Mount Faber - a hilltop restaurant venue overlooking Singapore and Sentosa. It affords great views of the city from one of the highest vantages in the region. More of that, however, in another post.

We were with my mother and sister. So, with my wife and I and three kids, that made far too many for one taxi. Thus, we had to take two.

I went with my immediate relatives - Syahidah took everyone else, in a separate cab.

Syahidah was, perhaps, feeling a bit mischievous. She told the driver: "We're in a race. If we arrive second, you have to give us a discount!"

The driver was game, and nodded his agreement.

Ainan piped up at that moment: "You have to win - but you can't break any traffic rules."

The driver laughed at that. Ainan was clearly considering the issue of speeding (he is a careful boy).

The race was on. The only problem was that the driver wasn't sure where he was going. He soon got lost, Mount Faber being a rarely requested destination (I, for one, have only visited it once before in the last seven years).

At a loss, he picked up his hand phone and called someone for help. He spoke in rapid-fire Chinese.

Syahidah turned to Fintan, four, and said: "See Fintan, he is calling the Power Rangers for help."

Fintan looked stunned, "The Power Rangers speak Chinese!", he exclaimed, flabbergasted. Nothing could have been more of a surprise.

The next time he met a Power Ranger, he would know how to address them.

For the remainder of the journey, he looked at the driver with respect, no doubt thinking: "That man has the phone number for the Power Rangers."

When Syahidah arrived at the Jewel Box, she found us waiting there, already.

The driver duly gave her a discount, as promised. Any friend of the Power Rangers, keeps his word.

It was a comical beginning to a great evening.

Maximal enjoyment.

How to be a parent is a question that troubles many a new parent. There are no simple, nor universal answers. How to parent depends on values, outlook, aims, culture, religion, society and many other factors. Consequently, there is no single answer applicable to all. There will be as many answers as there are children - for that is another factor, too: the nature of each child.

All this makes parenting a difficult matter, with no clear rules.

Today, for example, presented a parenting challenge which many may meet.

We were at Sentosa, Singapore's resort island, with my mother and sister. We were sitting having a drink in the shade, by a set of pools with fountains in them. Suddenly, Tiarnan made a break for it, running away from us, towards the pools. I got up and followed him. However, he managed to reach the pools before I did, and leapt in, up to his shins in water. He laughed. I dragged him out and back to our seating.

It was not long, however, before he saw another chance, while we were distracted and ran away again, this time leaping fully into the water and lying down in it. He was drenched by the time I got there. Seeing him like that, I made a decision to let him play.

He was soon joined by Fintan and the two of them began to run from pool to pool, splashing each other, lying in the water - and even trying to taste it (to a loud rebuke from me). Tiarnan and Fintan both took to standing on top of the fountains trying to block the outflow of water. Tiarnan at times sat amongst the gushing outlets and let it flow all over him.

It was notable that no other children were in the pools. They were ornamental and weren't meant for this use.

Passersby would laugh and stop and take photos, in particular of Tiarnan, the frolicing one year old.

One elderly Indian tourist applauded, saying: "Maximal enjoyment!" at the sight of Tiarnan playing in a pool.

I let them play not until they tired, but until I did. For I followed Tiarnan from pool to pool, ever on guard, beneath the hot sun, against accidents. After perhaps half-an-hour, I had had enough and dragged Tiarnan out, much to his dismay.

Fintan didn't come easily, either.

Now, other parents didn't let their children play so. Their concern was for public decorum. For me, however, it was a great pleasure to watch my children's joy, while they played in the water. So what if they got wet? So what if their clothing would take an hour or two to dry out? (For both were fully clothed when they first entered the water). None of that mattered. What mattered, for me and for them - was that they should, as the stranger said, get "maximal enjoyment" from their day on the island. That is far more important to them, in their childhood, than that everyone should think my children are under tight control (as so many of the other children are).

I prefer my way of bringing them up: it is called letting them play.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one 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.)

Fintan's Christmas request

We had an unusual Christmas day.

We took a day trip to Sentosa Island - which is a resort island near Singapore, across a bridge, in fact. It is Singapore's theme park island. The entire island consists of attractions nestled in landscaped gardens and manicured beaches. There are all sorts of theme park like rides. Singapore is a small island, but it makes every effort to be self-contained, so Sentosa is designed to fulfil the desire in people for a resort experience - and it is no coincidence that an "Integrated Resort" (for that read Casino complex) is soon to be built on the island.

We only took two rides: the "Luge" and a cable car. The Luge I enjoyed - it was like a bobsleigh run, without the danger - for velocities were lower and it wasn't in a narrow channel, but a wide, downward sloping road. Under the force of gravity, we rolled past one another, jostling for position, as if in a race. I had Fintan on my cart, Syahidah had Ainan on hers - a boy nestled between our protecting legs, lest we bumped into something or someone.

The cable car, however, was a different matter. It looked innocent enough at first, with the car floating only about ten feet above the ground, shortly after it left the starting platform. Each "car" was actually an open bench, attached to the cable above by only - and this detail worried me - the friction of a single biting grip from a single arm. Looking at it, I couldn't help but notice that, in theory, a large enough weight could rotate the grip and free the car from the cable.

We were asked to sit down on either side of the boys. I sat on the right most side, Syahidah on the left most side, Ainan on my inside, Fintan on hers. The bench was open to the sky and to the ground below, but for a single bar that came over the top and settled at belly height in front of us. We were encouraged to hold the bar - and, it being the only thing to hold onto, we did.

At first I didn't feel uncomfortable, because the ground was quite close below. However, the car soon began to rise, and rise, and rise - until the trees were quite far below us and the distance to the ground lookedly awfully unsurvivable. I felt then the precariousness of my position in the car. Looking down I saw the ground far below, trees, cars and a road passing by below. Looking up I saw that only a firm grip by a metal hand on a cable held us in place. Note that the grip was not a closed loop, but open on the underside - so a strong enough force on the car, could rotate it free. In between we sat, on an open bench, with only a single bar between us and what lay below.

Oddly, the car was tilted towards me, since I am well over twice the weight of my wife. So we proceeded, high above the land below, at an angle determined by my excessive frame.

I have painted the experience as it felt, for a reason. Towards the end of the trip, at one of the highest points above the ground, Fintan, three, who is ever courageous, looked straight down at the ground below, and announced: "I want to go again, Daddy."

He did. I didn't.

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