Childhood stories, in the eyes of a child.

A few days ago, my wife Syahidah, told a story to her youngest son, Tiarnan, 6. The story was not a happy one. It was about a cruel old woman, who didn’t feed her cat, until the cat’s fur started to fall out. Eventually, the cat died of starvation.

On finishing the story, Syahidah looked expectantly at Tiarnan for a reaction. She expected him to empathize with the cat and be unhappy with the old woman.

Tiarnan looked thoughtful.

“Did the old woman have enough food for herself in the first place?”, he enquired, gently, of his surprised mother.

That was a thought that had not occurred to her. Tiarnan had come upon his own alternative interpretation of the possible story behind the events described.

His face grew even more intent.

“Also did the fur really fall out because of the lack of food? I see Mochi and Sushi pulling each other’s fur out.”

Mochi and Sushi are our female rabbits.

These two little thoughts, of Tiarnan’s left Syahidah rather impressed. They showed that Tiarnan wasn’t accepting the story at face value – at the value the writing of the story was trying to lead him to hold. No. Tiarnan was re-examining the story for other possible explanations and seeing in it, other reasons for why the events had unfolded as they had – reasons which absolved the old woman of personal blame and shifted the blame onto unfortunate circumstances, instead.

Tiarnan’s thinking, here, showed both creativity and critical analysis – and the ability to form his own view, apart from any view he was being led to believe. These are hopeful characteristics and bespeak the growth of an independent mind likely to hold its own views, no matter what the majority says. His is a young mind likely to grow into an original thinker, irrespective of what might commonly be believed.

What is most indicative of a creative mind at work, here, is that he did not accept the view he was being led to hold, but examined the situation for himself, testing it against his own understanding of the possibilities. He thought it through for himself, coming to his own conception of what was happening, or at least his own consideration of what might have been happening. He used his imagination for what the possible underlying truths might be. In doing so he was forming theories of motivation and circumstance, to explain observed behaviour - theories which were not stated in the story, but which he inferred would explain the observed actions, if they were operant. This is both quite complex thinking and creative, too, for he needed to invent possible explanations and reality test them for explanatory and predictive value, given his understanding of human behavioural possibilities. I would characterize this thinking as independent, mature, creative and insightful...and that is rather heartening to note in one just six years old.

Tiarnan is showing a very interesting blend of characteristics, in his thinking, in his personality and in the way he does things. His is a very complex young mind, in many ways, with multiple unexpected dispositions held in one mind. I will elucidate on these characteristics over time, in other posts – just let it be said, here, that Tiarnan promises to become a deep and subtle young man, one day.

In the meantime, as he grows up, he will, no doubt, be able to teach his mother, alternative ways of seeing the childhood stories she tells him. I wonder who will learn more, the son or the mother?

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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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.

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

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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.)

On refolding reality

On December 1st, Tiarnan, four, brought something unusual to the dinner table.

In his chunky little hands, he held a paper ornament, made of thin card. It was grey and instantly suggestive of something – at least, to me.

“What is that?”, asked Fintan, seven, peering curiously across the table at his younger brother.

“An elephant.”, I said, answering for Tiarnan, without pausing to reflect whether I should do so. Indeed, that is what it was: an origami elephant. Tiarnan’s teacher had made it at school, for him.

Tiarnan’s eyes were held captive by his paper elephant, but his mind was on other possibilities. He spoke, at once, on hearing my description, managing to declare his thought, even before mine had faded in the room.

“But it can turn into a plane!”, Tiarnan exclaimed. He then set about, immediately, unfolding the elephant, and making it into a plane.

In a few seconds, his elephant had become a jet fighter. He moved it through the air, as if on powerful jets, for Fintan to see.

Fintan was enamoured of the new born plane, in an instant, and reached over to Tiarnan to take it from him. Tiarnan obliged without argument, perhaps wishing to share the experience of the plane he had made from an elephant.

I watched Fintan play with the plane. It shot back and forth along the dining room table, propelled by its young, external, pilot. Though it didn’t show on my face, I smiled inwardly to see Fintan enjoy something so simple, so much. Indeed, it was wonderful to be a child, of such an age, that such things delight.

Tiarnan watched, attentively, from across the table, seeming to enjoy the sight almost as much as if he piloted it himself.

Seeing the plane fly gave a new meaning to “flying elephants” – for indeed, Tiarnan had made an elephant fly.

It was a perfect childhood scene, one both simple and beautiful. What made it more of interest, to me, is Tiarnan’s creative response to the situation. The elephant his teacher had made, was all very well. However, elephants don’t inspire children’s imaginations in the way that planes do. Yet, that had been no problem for Tiarnan. He had seen the possibility of a plane, within the folds of the elephant – and had remodelled it, in a moment, to suit the desires of his imagination, the better.

It is an essential part of the creative imagination, to be able to see what could be, in what is: to see the possibilities that lie unrealized in life and the moment. Tiarnan has that. It was such a casual simple thing for him to turn the elephant into a plane – yet so meaningful, too. Many children, you see, on seeing the paper elephant, would not be able to see it as anything but a paper elephant. Tiarnan, however, saw more deeply into it. He saw, without any evident delay, that the “elephant” could just as easily – and more enjoyably – become a plane, with a little judicious folding.

I wonder at what Tiarnan shall be, one day. He is such a blend of faculties, that it is difficult to say what he might make of them. He has many nascent gifts – gifts that don’t necessarily normally belong together, I think, in one person. Thus, he has the potential to become a most unexpected person – one who may not, reasonably, fit into any standard mould.

I have a hope that he will use his nascent creative powers to become a creative person of some kind. Of course, I can only hope that, for it is for him to choose what he will be. I see, though, quite clearly, that he has the basic mental foundations of a creative individual, of, perhaps, a surprising individual. I hope he chooses wisely and well, what he does with those powers and chooses to become a man worthy of the young child he is today. Yet, it is a long journey from now, to then. I can only help him along, in whatever way I am able, until the day he walks free in the world, without any need for help, at all. In the meantime, he can make elephants fly!

(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

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 at http://www.genghiscan.com/

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