On being predictable

Yesterday, my eldest son, Ainan, 13, sidled up to me, with an intent unreadable expression in his eyes.

I was busy with something on the computer, so my attention wasn't fully available to attend to his forthcoming words.

“Daddy, I know what you are going to say next.”

“What am I going to say next?”, I said, half-turning around in my chair, to him.

“See.”, he said, with a little smile that said it all.

For a moment, I felt very dumb.

I had to laugh. It was the only answer to properly defuse the sense of imminent idiocy, that threatened to submerge me.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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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.) 

Ainan's teasing sense of humour.

Today, after dinner, I was talking with my sons.

Fintan, seven, confessed, unexpectedly: "I like even numbers." He spoke to me, as if expecting a response from me, but cast a glance across at Ainan.

Ainan's eyes grew mischievous across from me, as if his mind had leapt upon something unsaid.

Fintan's left index finger then pointed across at Ainan, with a short stabbing motion.

"He said: "Even numbers are for girls!"". Fintan was quite put out by this thought of his favourite category of numbers, being corralled for girls' use only.

Now, I knew why Ainan's eyes had seemed so mischievous: they seemed even more so now. A little grin grew on him.

I had to defend poor Fintan's view of the mathematical world, lest he be quite put off it.

"No, that is not true, Fintan: even numbers are for both girls and boys."

Fintan, who had grown stiff beside me, as he had explained Ainan's claim about even numbers, relaxed then, and sat back in his chair.

The conversation then moved on to a discussion of the properties of the numbers themselves, before venturing off into prime numbers.

Fintan was much happier - but now I had had a glimpse into how Ainan, ten, talked to Fintan when I wasn't around. It seems he brought a certain mischievous humour to some of these conversations.

I am glad Fintan mentioned it to me. Now I shall be ready to "untease" him, in future, should it prove necessary.

It is good though, to observe, that Fintan (and Ainan, of course) actually care enough about numbers to make them the subject of after dinner chatter. It should be noted that I didn't introduce the subject: Fintan did. It is funny to note what they think is worth thinking about. Never would I have imagined that numbers could be allocated along gender lines!

(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.)