The children of war.

Yesterday, I saw something which is rather sobering. I was at a conference, on Montessori education, having been invited as a variety of committee member at the NAGCM (National Assocation for Gifted Children Malaysia). The conference consisted, as most conferences do, of a series of talks, in this case given by academics and educators with an interest in early childhood education. One of the speakers had, in the course of her research, travelled to kindergartens in various parts of the world. What struck me, with such force, was something she showed us: some children's drawings.

Now, children draw all the time. One should not expect to be surprised, therefore, when they do. However, these drawings were rather different. They were from Iraqi children. They had been drawn by preschool children of various ages. They showed a good measure of observational skill, too. Now, I am going to describe them to you and I want you to imagine them.

One drawing showed a street scene. In that street were a lot of people - but there was something unusual about them. All of them were lying down on the ground. Their bodies were not stick figures, as is usual with children's drawings, but full figures, with the proper volume for limbs and body. From out of each figure, there poured a rivulet of blood. Each figure, was dressed in black - and quite, quite dead. That was the least disturbing picture that was shown to us.

Another showed a bright sunlit scene. In the middle of the picture was someone dressed in black, with what clearly was meant to be a padded bomb vest around its abdomen. The figure had been labelled "suicide bomber" - though whether by the teacher or the pupil, I couldn't tell. There was something radiating from the suicide bomber - a sense of fire. Clearly, the bomber was depicted in the act of exploding. Around them, however, the rest of scene seemed to come from somewhat later. There were many people in the street - however, every single one came in bits and pieces. There were no complete people in the scene. There were heads, arms and legs strewn about in random jumbles, with blood around them, or coming out of them. The suicide bomber was the only person in this image who was whole.

From a technical point of view, this drawing was interesting in that the limbs had been drawn, in an attempt to be lifelike. They were not stick figure style drawings.

There was another scene, too. This was a street scene in which there were several cars. All of them were on fire - violently burning away. Again, the street was filled with dead people, bleeding away - in this case, complete people who had, perhaps, been shot.

I need describe these scenes no more for you to understand what these drawings mean. For these Iraqi children, this is life. This is what they see and hear around them: people being shot, blown up and burnt, streets filled with dead and dismembered people.

It seems to me, that foreign wars are easily supported from afar, by the populations of the countries that launch them. Many a US citizen may have, initially, approved of the invasion of Iraq, for instance. However, those very same citizens, might have a different view of such wars, if only they could see the drawings of preschool children from those countries. They would then see what life seems to be, from the point of view of these innocent observers. Perhaps the drawings, themselves, would be enlightening enough for there to be no need for those same citizens to see the reality of war, on the ground.

I am left to wonder, rather sadly, on the effect growing up in such a violent, brutal world, as those Iraqi children are, will have on them, as future adults. Will they be brutal and desensitized, or will they be acutely aware that war is something to be avoided, at all costs? Will they value life more or less, having seen what they have seen?

The effects of the violence in Iraq will, I rather think, endure long after it has ended and peace has returned. The children growing up, with blood and bombs filling their imagination, are unlikely to be unaffected by it: they shall live out their days, transformed by war into people they never otherwise would have been. It seems to me that there is something dreadfully wrong about this. I don't want a world in which preschool children draw suicide bombings and dismembered limbs...but that is our world, today.

I suggest you think on those kindergarten children of Iraq and reflect on what kind of effect such thoughts might be having on their development. Is it right to do that to little children? Is it right to make such a world? Should we allow it to persist?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

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A child's response to Wall-e.

Ainan saw Wall-e with us all, a few days ago. His response to it was most interesting. He didn't just talk about it, he actually did something.

When he got home, Ainan drew all the characters in Wall-e that interested him. He drew them with a biro in a notebook and labelled them all. What particularly struck me was that each character was recognizable - and was given its appropriate name - yet he had only just seen the show once. Ainan had absorbed the physical esssence of each character and was able to reproduce them, in pen, later.

He drew images of the following characters from memory: Mo, Eve, Van-go, Buf-4, Go-4, Brl-A, Auto, Wall-e, Wall-a, Pr-t, D-fib, L-t, Vak-uum, Han-S. To me that seems an awful lot of different characters to register in sufficient detail to be able to actually draw a good likeness of each of them later. Yet, Ainan did just that.

To my mind, Wall-e struck Ainan deeply enough that he had to respond to it in a creative manner in some way. His response was to draw every character, perhaps to capture the experience for himself in his own way.

For me, the most memorable aspect of the film will now be the way Ainan responded to it. Though I must say the film itself is an enjoyable comment on modern life - and a warning about it, too. See it, if you haven't already.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Fintan finds an identity.

Many people, whether they know it or not, are in search of themselves. By this, I mean they are in search of an identity: a means to describe themselves, to define their natures and perhaps to define their purposes.

Fintan, five, is well on the way to such a definition. A few days ago, he came into the room with his mouth all taped up. "emmmhhhuuuaaaatttt". He said, most unintelligibly. He was most intent. He looked up at me and tried to communicate a thought. "emmmmhhhhuuuaaattt.", he said, again. One further puzzled look from me was enough to make him give up. Then he stripped the sellotape from his mouth and went rushing after his elder brother, Ainan.

Ainan thought otherwise of Fintan's intent and promptly ran away. A farce ensued. Fintan ran after Ainan and Ainan ran away, both circling our bedroom, as fast as their feet would allow.

What struck me was the words Fintan chased Ainan with: "I'm an ARTIST!", he said, again and again, "I'm an ARTIST!", to justify his wish to tape up his brother.

I thought it a most splendid moment - an iconic one, even. For it showed that Fintan had a belief in what he sought to do, that was framed in artistic terms. He sought to use Ainan (involuntarily, though), in his self-imagined work of Art. Ainan was to become part of some statement that Fintan sought to make.

I let them run after each other for awhile, before Fintan realized that Abang Ainan wasn't going to co-operate.

Fintan, the artist, was left standing there, his sellotape art materials in one hand, an idea in his head and a distinct determination to become an artist, whether or not Abang (elder brother) Ainan wished to become involved.

If Fintan does become an artist - which, given that his mother is one, he might very well become - I will remember this moment as the first on which he concretely expressed that wish - whilst in the midst of creating a work of Art, with the intended participation of his brother.

I will now just have to wait to see what my Artist son does next. In the meantime, perhaps I should ask him what his work of Art meant to him.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Signs of a child artist.

All parents wonder what their children are going to grow up to be. We can only watch and wonder. However, if we watch closely enough, we can often discern signs of the growing personality and type of gift of each of our children.

Tiarnan shows himself to be responsive to many things in his environment in an acute way. About ten days ago, he decided to play with the cards in his mother's wallet. He took them all out one by one - and then he did something very interesting, from the perspective of what it says about him. He arranged the cards into a humanoid shape, with two arms, two legs, a body and a head and declared his creation: "Robot".

It did, indeed, look like a robot - being an all plastic humanoid.

What I found interesting about this is that he didn't see what most people see in a set of plastic cards: nothing much. He saw the potential to make a visual statement with them.

Perhaps, he will one day be an artist, like his mother. It would be good to think so, for I think art is one of the most valuable of human endeavours (though it happens to be under-appreciated in Singapore, where we live).

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and nine months, and Tiarnan, twenty-six 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, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)