A Singaporean Shopping Trip.

A few days ago, Syahidah was shopping in Orchard Road with Tiarnan, two, and Fintan, five. As she did so, a characteristic moment occurred that illuminated their brotherly relationship.

They were in Toys R Us and Syahidah said to Fintan:

"We are going to look at Ben 10 stuff."

Fintan gasped, understanding something: "You mean Tiarnan’s toy for his birthday present?". He turned then, to his little brother Tiarnan: "Close your eyes."

Tiarnan was not entirely convinced: "But if I close my eyes I cannot see when I walk."

Fintan insisted: "You must close your eyes. You can hold my hand."

Tiarnan considered this briefly then agreed: "OK".

They walked, then, together, throughout the shop. Tiarnan's eyes were closed as requested, and he held onto Fintan, trusting his brother to guide him.

At one point, Fintan informed Tiarnan: "There are steps ahead." Tiarnan had his own idea about that. Syahidah thought that Tiarnan, at that moment, peeked from behind slitted eyes, just to be doubly sure.

She thought it very sweet to see them navigate the stairs and shop together, Fintan so careful with the safety of his little brother.

It is warming to see siblings so supportive of each other. I feel fortunate that the brothers get along so well together. There is, at least so far, none of the sibling rivalry that one hears so much about. There is no "jockeying for position", no competitiveness, no dislike of the others' achievements, successes or abilities. There is only this supportive togetherness in which each looks out for the others. It is an ideal situation and I hope it persists. I would not like to see it to decline into a situation of mutual rivalry and competitiveness. That would be such a pity considering how warm they are to each other, at this time.

Incidentally, Fintan was so good and so careful at guiding Tiarnan that he never bumped into anything and didn't even stub his toe. Well done Fintan.

(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.)

No signs of sibling rivalry here.

I suppose that we are fortunate in that there, as yet, appear to be no signs of sibling rivalry, among the brothers. In fact, just the opposite seems to be developing.

Yesterday, Fintan, five and Ainan, eight, went to a talk on genetics. Initially, just Ainan was meant to go - but Fintan expressed an interest, so his mother, Syahidah, brought him along too. In the end, he rather enjoyed it and seemed to gain from it.

Anyway, Fintan behaved rather sweetly throughout the talk. Whenever a question was addressed to the audience, he did something very funny: he would grab a hold of Ainan's arm and raise it into the air to make it look like Ainan wanted to answer the question. Then he would urge Ainan on: "Go on, Abang, you can answer that one!". Ainan, once put on the spot, duly answered the questions.

It was endearing to see Fintan do this from several perspectives: the first is that, not knowing the answer himself, he had the confidence in Ainan that Ainan would know. Secondly, it was warming to see how proud he was of his elder brother ("abang") that he should be able to answer such questions.

The most important thing I learnt from this is the strong evidence that the dynamic developing between the brothers is not one of sibling rivalry - but of pride in the other's achievements and abilities. It seems to me that this is a very good development, indeed, for it promises that the relationships between the brothers will be strong and supportive ones - and few things are more valuable in a life than that one's siblings should form a support network.

Fintan, interestingly, had some well-observed questions 0f his own - but that is for another post. In the meantime, I am just happy to see the brothers get on so well.

(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.)

The size of a toddler

Today, I looked down at my youngest, smallest son, Tiarnan, twenty-seven months and said: "Who is a big boy?"

He looked up at me, a long, long way up and shouted: "MEEEE!!!"

Then, I asked him: "Who is a small boy?"

"ABANG!!!" he shouted, with gleeful mischief in his eyes, for Abang means "elder brother". He was either referring to Ainan or to Fintan, both of whom are, of course, markedly bigger than he is.

Tiarnan shows every sign of wanting to be all grown up, already. For now, he will have to satisfy himself with imagining himself so. In the meantime, he will, no doubt, give me much enjoyment with his constant jockeying for status and position among his brothers. Today, he labelled himself the biggest of the three brothers. Who knows, maybe he will be one day, despite his present size - but that is a good fifteen or twenty years away.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven 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, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The beginnings of sibling rivalry: competition.

Observing Tiarnan is always interesting. The little things he does say so much.

On October 21st 2007, Tiarnan was offered some melon, on a plate. Now, it must be remembered that, at twenty months, Tiarnan was (and is) the youngest and the smallest member of this particular household. He has two older siblings. So what effect does having two older, bigger siblings have on him? Well, some of the effects are funny.

He reached out for the melon with his broad hand and put a piece in his mouth, rather quickly. It bulged in his mouth, inflating his cheek. He began to chew on it. Then he reached for another - and quickly popped it in his mouth. Another bulge appeared in his cheek, on the other side. He chewed on them both, with some difficulty. He looked around as if checking to see who was nearby. Then he reached for another piece of melon and popped it in his mouth, with more difficulty than the first two. He tried to chew but wasn't so successful. Finally, he took the last piece of melon and stuffed it in his mouth which, by this time, was totally filled with dripping melon. He looked like he was holding a sack of potatoes in his mouth.

He was very anxious to get all of the food in his mouth as quickly as possible. He seemed concerned that, if he didn't, his elder, bigger, stronger brothers would take it all and he would be left with nothing. So, here we see a rather comic effect of having older siblings: a competition for food. Tiarnan really wants to make sure he gets all the good food he can - so when he sees good things on offer, he rushes to stuff it in his mouth, lest his brothers deprive him of it. It is both funny and sweet to see such a little boy behave in this way. I feel he thinks of himself as relatively powerless, compared to them - but just by the expedient of hiding all the food in his mouth, where he doubts his brothers will be able to get at it, he manages to adjust to the situation.

I don't know what has led him to understand things in this way - for, of course, there would always be food for him. Yet, it seems that he sees his own position as precarious when it comes to such resources as good food. He sees a need to compete in the best way that he can: the fastest grab and the biggest mouthful. This is not the first time he has done this: he has done it many times before - he absolutely fills his mouth with the food he likes, before he settles down to the task of absorbing it. His first priority is to ensure that he gets his share of it, before the others do. Perhaps this is the beginning of sibling rivalry, then: the competition over food. It all boils down to survival, then.

Isn't it a funny world? A mere toddler is already entrained to compete for resources.

I wonder if he will remain as competitive when he grows up - or if this is just his adaptation to relative powerlessness in a house filled with older siblings. I shall just have to wait and see.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one 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.)