A most polite boy.

Today, as we sat in a restaurant, eating dinner, Tiarnan, five, picked up a chip that had not been covered in chilli powder and rubbed it against one which had. Chilli powder duly transferred from the second chip, to the first.

“Thank you.”, said, Tiarnan, gratefully, his eyes peering down at the plate.

“Who are you saying thank you, to?” I asked, curious, since his gaze had been on no human. “Was it the chip?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Why? Was it because the chip gave you something?”

He nodded again.

What a polite boy. Even the chips get a thank you, from him.

Next he picked up another chip.

“This is the chip I said thank you, to.”, he noted, his eyes looking up at me with an odd seriousness, with a hint of humour in it.

“Now you are going to eat it?”

He looked at the chip, with assessing eyes, and carefully replaced it on the plate.

When he had finished eating, the chip which had “done him a favour”, was left uneaten, on the plate. He just didn’t have the heart to eat the chip that had “helped him out”!

How sweet.

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.

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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.)

Fintan's favourite colours.

We were walking to a local shop, a few days ago, near our house, when I thought to ask, my seven year old son:

“What is your favourite colour, Fintan?”

He looked down at the grey slabs of tiles at his feet and declared: “Grey”.

That wasn’t the answer I had expected. It seemed so unenticing a colour, for a child to choose.

“Grey? I thought it was orange.”

He kept his eyes down at the tiles, as if studying their formation. His thoughts, however, were cast inward and backward.

“Before orange, it was purple.”, he remarked.

“Purple?”

“Yes. After orange, it was blue, then black, then grey.”

He had laid his life out in a series of colours. Suddenly, in a way, he seemed very old, for he had given depth to the moment. Fintan seemed, then, to be a multilayered boy, a pile of colours stretching off into time.

“Why do you keep changing your favourite colour, Fintan?”

“Tiarnan doesn’t.” he remarked, not by way of explanation at all, “Tiarnan’s is always blue.”

“Why does yours change, Fintan?”

He was silent, as if reflecting on himself. He didn’t answer, but just walked, head down, studying the stones.

I decided to ask the question in a different way.

“Why did you like purple, Fintan?”

I knew that was a long time ago, but I had to ask. Fintan may have only been about two at the time.

“Because of that tv show…with the purple animal…”, he trailed off, seeking remembrance.

“Barney?”, I suggested.

He gave a sharp nod of recognition.

“Barney the dinosaur?”, I continued, “You liked purple because of Barney?”

He seemed to be all agreement, without giving any overt sign.

“Why did you like orange?”

“Because of a fruit.”, he said, simply.

“Which fruit?”

“Orange.”, his eyes glanced up at me and it was quite clear what thought was in them: how could you miss something so obvious?

“What about blue?”

“The sea is blue.”, he said, recalling beaches, it seemed, and waves splashing ashore.

“How about black?”

“Black is a wall.” His hands waved in front of him, as if he faced that very wall, in his imagination, even now.

“Which wall?”. That was interesting. I couldn’t think of any wall that Fintan might have known, that was black.

“Any wall is black, Daddy, you just have to paint it.” He spoke as if he was teaching me to see the obvious.

I fell in love with that remark the moment he said it. It seemed to so express how he saw the world. For him the world was not what is, but what could be. Any wall was black – you just had to paint it. That single remark made the walk to the shops worth it, despite the fact that it meant a long walk back uphill afterwards.

“How about grey? Why do you like that?”

“Grey is the shading of a pencil. I like shading.”

Again, he seemed to be drawing in his mind’s eye, as he spoke.

We walked on, then, to the shops, as I reflected on Fintan’s words. I understood, then, that, for him, a favourite colour was not an arbitrary choice, at all, as it seemed with so many children. For Fintan, it was not just a favourite colour that he chose – but a favourite thing, activity or experience, that happened to be coloured. His favourite colours were an autobiography of his development – they showed what was his favourite experience at each and every stage of his young life. His choices spoke of who he was, at any given stage of his life. He had begun as a watcher of tv shows, and had evolved into a young artist, changing his colour at each step of the way.

I realized that, for Fintan, the world was a rich network of association. A colour was not just a colour, it was, for him, some special thing.

As ever with Fintan, his disarming personal quality – which presented him as rather like a living teddy bear – hid complexities, that were just waiting below the surface. He was both endearing and unexpected at the same time. I know, though, that most would miss what was really going on with him – because they would never think to ask the right questions. So, they would go away knowing only of his teddy bearishness – and not of the multilayered tales within.

I am glad I had that chat with Fintan. The question may have been ordinary, but the answers were not. They led me to understand that Fintan was filled with attached meanings – by which I mean, he attaches meanings to many things, in his life, that would, for others, have no meaning at all.

Of course, this leaves me to wonder: what else don’t I know about Fintan, simply because I have never thought of the right question to ask, to elicit just those inner thoughts he never voices? He had never spoken of why he likes particular colours before – but that was because I had never thought to ask, before. What else, do I not know? I hope to have the wisdom to ask the questions that I should. Who knows what other surprises lay within his curly head?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 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.)

Fintan's battle cry.

We were playing a card game, a week or so ago, beneath the setting sun, outside our home. It was just my three boys and myself, and the fresh evening air. I recall feeling very content, at the time, looking around that table and seeing the three of them, enjoying themselves.

The game had held its little surprises and, oddly, at that moment, Tiarnan was winning. It was a Monopoly themed game, and Tiarnan, though just four, had managed to become the richest, most promising player at that time. His smile to himself, eyes agog at his pile of "wealth", said quite clearly that he was well aware of his leading position.

It was Fintan's turn and, just as he began to place down his first card, he cried out: "Bring on the babies!"

It was a surreal instant. The phrase hung over us, utterly without perceptible meaning. Fintan laughed, seeing my mystification, perhaps, or just sensing his own eccentricity and enjoying it.

"What does that mean?", I asked him, unable not to smile.

He mumbled something about people carrying babies, but I couldn't quite understand what he meant. I let it go.

It was clear to me that the phrase meant something to him - something funny, too. It reminded me, then, of Fintan's curious combination of good social skills, and quirky thoughts. What, I wonder, will he make of this combination of dispositions? Should he ever become some variety of creator, I am sure he will be psychologically equipped to communicate his thoughts, successfully - and do so with an engaging charm, that gets others on his side. I rather feel that this is a better combination of skills than many other more obviously blessed ones.

It strikes me now, that what is most memorable about my children, is the things they say, that I have never heard anyone else ever say...like Fintan's battle cry. Is it possible that Fintan is the first person to ever say such a thing? He certainly is, in my acquaintance, but then I am not acquainted with all utterances in human history. More important, I think, than mere intelligence, is the ability to be different from all others: if one's thoughts are distinct, they will have more impact on the world, than the smartest, but more conventional person, one can possibly find. It is not intelligence, alone, which makes culture grow - but the capacity to be different. My children have both attributes - but of the two, that disposition to be different, is vastly more important than the mere other.

Carry on being your distinct self, Fintan...even if sometimes I don't understand what you mean!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI 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.

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.)