Tiarnan on moral complexity.

Last month, Tiarnan, three, at the time, was talking to his mother about character. He stood still before his mother, with his customary serious expression on his face, when he is about to mention something of significance. It gave him a presence that demanded attention - so Syahidah duly gave it to him.

"Mummy, you shouldn't always choose the good guy, because sometimes the good guy can be bad, and the bad guy can be good."

It was an interesting comment, for it showed that Tiarnan's understanding of morality and character had gone beyond black and white, and now incorporated every shade of grey, too. For him, character was not clearcut, anymore: there were ambiguities and blurrings of categories. To me, this seems a sign of a maturing grasp of the nature of people - for no-one is perfectly one thing or another, but a blend, instead, of various dispositions. Tiarnan has come to understand that, already.

Seeing childhood, from the outside, as I do, as a parent, it amazes me how quickly, very young children come to understand the world, when you consider how little time they have had to do so. They seem to come an insight of what it is all about upon very little exposure indeed. It seems to me that they are better able to do this, than a typical adult: ie. come to an understanding based on little information. Young children, in my experience, do this very well.

In a way, this is very revealing, because it goes beyond the world view that Hollywood would have little children believe: that of the pure good guy and bad guy division. Tiarnan has seen much Hollywood fare...but he has also been observing the world itself. His conclusion is clear: all is not clearcut, the world is not black and white, but grey. It is, I feel, a step towards a maturer understanding of the social world.

(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.

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Perceptiveness in a young child.

Tiarnan, three, is a perceptive child. In fact, I cannot really make it clear what I mean by this, unless you are acquainted with him. He sees what others do not see...indeed, he notes every little thing about what is going on around him. In particular, he sees the subtlest nuances of people.

The other day, he said to his mother, who had just sat down: "Why do you sit like that?"

"What do you mean?", she asked, surprised to be accused of sitting in any way, in particular.

"Why do you put your hand down first?" He then showed her what she had done, sitting just like his mummy. For a moment, he was his mummy. He captured her in motion and gesture, as he sat.

In seeing him, doing so, she finally saw herself and became aware that, yes, she does have her own unique way of approaching a chair.

What Syahidah found uncanny about the moment is that Tiarnan had actually perceived the subtleties of her motion, even though she, herself, was unconscious of them. He had seen what others would never see. He had not just seen: "My mother is sitting.", as most would, but had seen just HOW she was sitting.

Tiarnan is funny like that. He observes the essence of people and is then able to express what he has seen, with his own body. It reminds me of the time he captured me, in thought, with a notebook - giving an impression of his father conceiving an idea and writing it down, with the haste of inspiration. His impression of me was a shocking echo...for he had suddenly seemed old, wise and thoughtful, adopting, for a few brief seconds, my posture, mannerisms and facial expressions.

Given his propensity to portray his understanding of others in this way, I rather think that Tiarnan has the makings of an actor. The question is, of course, whether he would like to be one. Right now, he is just a little boy with a penchant for expressing his understanding of others, in a physical way.

We will see how it turns out.

(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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This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Fintan's emotional perception.

Sometimes the questions children ask alter the way a parent sees the world. They are questions which bring home a truth that, perhaps, had been overlooked.

A few days ago, Fintan, five, asked one such question.

He was sitting quietly with his mother, when he turned to her with query in his eyes.

"Why do people look so happy when they are going to the circus, but the animals look so sad?"

The question quite startled his mother, for there was a deep truth in his implicit observation. It is no fun being a caged animal, no matter how much the crowd might enjoy it.

Fintan is a close observer of the world. Sometimes, he sees things which are easy to overlook. Often, he surprises with his questions because they are of a moral, or philosophical or ethical nature. These are not the questions one expects of a five year old. They are questions that show he sees the world through moral eyes, emotional eyes, ethical eyes. He is not only seeing the world for what it is, but asking what it should be. He is questioning the way things are, from a moral perspective and judging it, for emotional value.

It is interesting to see his preoccupation with such questions. Part of him is showing a social maturity that is welcome to see. It is what allows him to get on with everyone he meets. Often, people extend to him an open invitation to visit. What is he doing right, that makes him so popular? Well, that kind of question says it all. Fintan is a young boy who is thinking about feelings, emotions, moral values, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is not. He is thinking about human conduct - and, beneath it all, seems to hold the value that all should be happy.

Obviously, the character that he has now is but the rudiment of what he is to be. However, I can see that this root promises to be a tree of solid character and human insight. I look forward to knowing, one day, the man he promises to be.

(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.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The birth of scepticism

The very young do not doubt, but, at some point, the first signs of scepticism creep into their minds. Ainan, 7, has already past that point.

Yesterday, Ainan came to me with a question: "Daddy, do you believe everything you read in the newspapers?"

"No, I don't. Sometimes they get the facts wrong."

"Me neither.", he began, more sure of himself now that he had found a fellow non-believer in the truth of all newspaper articles.

"You see, there is this girl, in the newspaper...", he began, quickly and quietly, in a rapid explanation of what he doubted and why.

The particular story is unimportant. What is important here is that he has begun to assert the primacy of his own judgments over the reports of others. To him, a news story is not to be accepted without question: it is to be judged against an internal set of criteria to determine its likelihood of truth.

Perhaps this is part of the process of becoming a scientist: the forming of independent opinions as to the truth of matters; the testing of information against what one knows and understands as well as, where it applies, experimentally.

I do not know when he formed this idea that newspapers were not to be trusted without examination. This is the first time he has mentioned this view to me - so it might have been resident in him for some time. It is, however, further evidence that the tendency to think for himself, in matters of science, has become more generalized: he is thinking for himself, in all areas - even in the simple reading of a newspaper.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen 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, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)