Excuses for staying up late.

About a week ago, it was time to put my sons to bed - or at least, the younger two.

"Bed, boys!", I said.

Fintan, 7, stirred a little from his seat, but then thought better of it.

Tiarnan moved not at all.

"Bed, boys!", I said, again, a little more loudly and insistently.

Fintan rose slowly to his feet, as if only then discovering that he had the strength to do so.

Tiarnan moved not at all.

"BED, BOYS!", I said, louder still, with that insistence that would not be denied.

Fintan decided it was time to move - and walked slowly off in the direction of his bedroom.

Tiarnan moved not at all.

"Come on Tiarnan, it is time to go to bed."

He stood up, then, before me and looked up at me, an enigmatic thought in his eyes.

"I haven't done my homework.", he said, as if very aware of the seriousness of this omission. There was not a hint of a smile on his face, as he looked up at me, but I rather felt one was appropriate, given the mischief in his words. He looked expectant.

"Well, you don't need to do it, now...you haven't got an exam tomorrow."

This seemingly didn't meet with his expectation.

He looked at me more intently.

"I HAVEN'T DONE MY HOMEWORK!", said, my five year old son, more slowly and emphatically. He clearly thought I was missing the point.

On that particular evening, this one wasn't working on me, though I had to admire him for the cunning of his ruse.

"You don't need to do it tonight...go to bed."

I placed a hand upon his back to urge him in the right direction.

He walked reluctantly towards his bedroom, surprised, perhaps, at the failure of his design.

In his bedroom, he decided to be more direct in his expression, perhaps in case he had been misunderstood.

"I want to do my homework.", he said, carefully, looking at me throughout as if to gauge my understanding.

"Bed.", I said, unmoved.

"I WANT to do my HOMEWORK.", he stressed again.

"Bed, Tiarnan."

Finally, he gauged that it wasn't going to work and he hopped onto his bed.

I settled him down and turned out the lights, laying down beside him, until I was sure he was asleep.

I must say, it amuses me to think that Tiarnan so dislikes going to bed, at a reasonable hour, that he would even propose that he spent extra time awake doing homework! What a marvellous excuse.

Later, I reflected that perhaps I should have let him stay up doing homework. Then, he would have been happier - and would have done something productive to boot. However, I wasn't thinking that way, at the time - I was only thinking that it was too late for the boys to be up.

Next time, I will grant him his wish, if he ever asks for it again: homework it shall be!


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How to get Daddy's attention

Tiarnan and I were playing a game, today. More specifically, he decided that he wanted to play the game and so I had to join in.

The game was a simple one. For Tiarnan, pillows had been transformed into guns with magical powers: one simply pointed the pillow and made a "peeoww" or "berrr" noise and Daddy would respond by being wounded. Daddy, of course, was allowed to use a pillow gun in return. I chose a very small one (his), he chose a very big one (mine). Clearly, he wanted to outgun me - or outpillow me.

At one point, he had done too thorough a job of pillow shooting me. I lay on the bed in an unresponsive state - not replying to his repeated queries.

He had a problem: how to resurrect the "dead".

He also had a solution. While I lay there, eyes closed, in imitation of an underpaid extra on a filmic battlefront, he did something unexpected. I heard it, a sound I didn't want to hear. My computer mouse clicking and moving across the table.

I awoke at once, suddenly cured of my mortal injuries, to see my little son, Tiarnan, twenty-six months, grinning at me, mischievously.

He knew that would work. Tugging at me was useless. Speaking to me was useless - but messing with my computer...well, that was guaranteed to resurrect the dead.

We played on - but I didn't dare play too dead, again, lest he take the messing with the computer route to revive me.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, 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, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)