Tale of a Zebra Print

A month ago, Tiarnan, then nineteen months, was looking through some pictures of zoo animals. Tiarnan is rather fond of animals and nature, in general, and has been able to name zoo animals since quite young - though he had not gone to a zoo, until recently.

He got to one animal: a picture of a zebra and held it up suddenly, saying: "Zebra...Bagus!". Now, "bagus" is Malay for good, but it is also something else. It is a cultural reference. You see there is a series of tv advertisements, concerning milk, which features black and white dairy cows. At the end of each ad there is heard the cry of "Bagus!" - so as to say how good the milk is. They are quite funny advertisements and make for good tv for children.

What struck me, however, was how the language and references of a tv advertisement, had crept into the speech of Tiarnan, at such a young age. Clearly, he had linked the cows and the zebra, owing to their similar colouration - even though he knows that they are separate animals, and through this association, he had decided to use the language of the tv advertisement, too. This is proof that he remembers the context of the word he was using: he recalls where he heard it used and in what way it was used. Thus, his knowledge is not stored without reference to its surroundings - but embedded in the context in which he learnt it. This shows that his memory is rich. It should be noted that he would have known the word, "bagus" already, from general usage and observation - but here he had deliberately chosen to make a cultural reference, when referring to the zebra in the same context as the black and white dairy cow, from the tv advertisement.

This, of course, points to another issue. Young children can and do absorb the contents of TV shows and advertisements - so it is ever wise to monitor what they see. If my nineteen month old child can make cultural references after watching tv advertisements, so could others. Those little eyes see all, those little ears hear all - and those little minds remember it, too!

(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.)

Singapore Zoo: a day out.

Yesterday we went to Singapore zoo with Tiarnan, sixteen months and Fintan, three.

Now, Tiarnan had never been to a zoo before and his reactions were most interesting. When he was taken to the White Tiger enclosure, he looked inside at its green expanse and seemed puzzled: he didn't know what he was supposed to see. It was about a minute of looking around, until, one sudden moment of perception, he saw the two big cats basking in the Sun. His face split wide in his enthusiastic grin, the one he saves for when he is very happy, and he pointed at the White Tigers. They were, indeed, beautiful - and it is somewhat saddening to read, elsewhere, that there are as few as 7,000 tigers (of all kinds) left in the world today. 100 years ago, that total was over 100,000. Someone has been doing a lot of hunting.

There were several instances of Tiarnan's behaviour that are worth remarking on. Throughout he was very intense, with a slight frown as he looked at the animals, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing: these strange looking animals were actually alive and moving.

On one occasion, Tiarnan excitedly pointed at a metal bin and said, very clearly: "Zebra!". We looked at the bin. It was black and white striped, like a Zebra. It was a funny moment - and an enlightening one, too. Tiarnan has never seen a Zebra in the flesh - but he recognized its coat pattern when suggested in paint. That speaks well of his visual perception - and ability to associate.

Later he saw actual Zebras and he was reduced to pointing and going "OOOH!", so excited was he.

At one time, he pointed and said: "Crocodile!" and looking where he had pointed, we saw a TV monitor, with a crocodile showing. I find it interesting that he is already able to name and identify animals of all kinds - and yet he had never seen any in the flesh, until yesterday.

I will save Fintan's zoo behaviour for another post.