Why mosquitoes bite.

About two weeks ago, I was walking with Tiarnan, in our fairly green area of Kuala Lumpur. The light was fading and the sun slumping in the sky.

Suddenly, I slapped the back of my neck.

Tiarnan, three, looked up at me, quizzically. "Why did you do that, Daddy?"

"A mosquito bit me.", I explained.

He nodded, with the wisdom of a pint sized Yoda, "Because Daddy is so nice!"

Unexpectedly, I felt quite a lot better about being bitten by the mosquito. I rather liked Tiarnan's reasoning: I was being targeted by mosquitoes because I was "so nice!" How sweet of him to think so. The most touching thing of all, though, was that he really seemed to believe it, such was his earnest nodding. He had no doubt at all in him that he had divined the reason for the mosquito's attack.

So, Tiarnan, the next time I get bitten by a mosquito, I will take it as a compliment to my character. Thank you, my boy!

(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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IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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Fast food and young children

Do all children instinctively love fast food? Is the marketing to young children universally successful?

You would think so, superficially. Fast food restaurants choose bright, garish colours that seem to appeal to children. The adverts are often fun and fast paced, for limited attention spans. The food is sugary, fatty and laced with flavour enhancers (I once read that a particular fast food from a Big Name fast food restaurant had 22 flavour enhancers of various kinds in it. Ouch.) The food is, in short, designed to be as addictive as possible.

Yesterday, Tiarnan, 22 months, was watching TV. A Big Name fast food chain advertisement came on - promoting the usual range of palatable, but unhealthy foods.

Our toddler son waited until the ad was over then said: "Urgh!", stuck his tongue out, and said, "Not nice!".

Well, it is back to the marketing department with that one, I think. There is one toddler in the world, at least, who is unconvinced by the attempts to entice him to eat junk.

I wonder how many other toddlers out there react similarly?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two 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.)