The nature of the Self, in the mind of a child.

Tiarnan is rather philosophical for a six year old. Today, he was having a serious little chat with his mother, when he suddenly asked, with the utmost intensity:

“Who is in control of me?”

His mother, Syahidah, focussed on him, somewhat startled at the question.

“Is it me, me, or is it my brain?”, he continued, drawing a distinction that seemed a little mystifying to her.

“Who do you think is in control of you?”, she prompted, acceptingly.

“Just me.”, he said, simply. “...and God, sometimes. God controls the whole world – but I am in control of me!”

He seemed happy with that conclusion.

Syahidah was quite happy, too, to have heard him think so. Listening to Tiarnan is rather refreshing. He ponders the world, asking questions of matters, that adults have come to overlook, or take for granted. He then reflects on them, deeply, answering them from within the context of his experience – yet, meaningfully, nevertheless. Tiarnan is a little philosopher and, in many ways, is proving to be a deep thinker, prone to pondering mysteries and cracking the enigmas of life. It is notable that the questions that concern him most could all be lumped under the heading: “The Meaning of Life”...for its nature and context are his primary interests. He really wants to understand what it means to be alive. He doesn’t just accept that he is alive and go from there...he is really questioning what life is and what it means to experience the living state. Yet, he is only six years old and has never read any philosophical or religious work of any kind. He is thinking for himself, afresh.

All of this leads me to wonder whether, as an adult, he might become a writer, who ponders deep questions and answers them for his readers. If so, that would be an altogether familiar outcome, for those who are privy to my writings of yesteryear (hint: not the general public, as yet).

Intellectually, Tiarnan has many a likeness to my own preoccupations – though his are in juvenescent form. That doesn’t disguise the fact, though, that he seems driven by the same motivations to question, understand and explain his world. Once again, I marvel at how much genetic influences appear to play in the formation of our minds, our characters and our interests.

I look forward to Tiarnan’s many interesting questions and ponderings, in the future.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

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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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

A child who asks deep questions.

Tiarnan is six years old. Normally, one has certain expectations of what being six years old entails. Tiarnan, however, in some ways, is busily ignoring these expectations.

Last night, as I was trying to settle him down to sleep. He suddenly perked up and looked at me, as if I might be able to provide the solution to something that was bothering him.

“Is life about a dream?”

I paused, in a little surprise at his question. He had a little smile on his face, as if he had had certain beliefs about my response. Before I could formulate a response, he launched another unexpected question at me:

“Why is real life real?”

This time there was no smile. He was very serious about it.

“What do you mean?”, I prompted, not fully understanding where his question was reaching, at first.

“How come I exist?”, he continued, as if this question explained the last.

“Mummy and Daddy made you.”

He smiled at that – as if he didn’t quite believe that was all there was to it.

“I know. The fat guy did it.”

“The fat guy? You mean God?”

He just smiled an answer and looked away at his thoughts.

I settled him down for the night. This was not the first time Tiarnan had asked such deep questions, but each time he did so, he managed to floor me – for they never seemed likely to come out of the mouth of such a small boy. Clearly, he had big thoughts, for one so small.

Tiarnan is but beginning his life – but he is already considering the meaning of life, its essence, purpose and origin. He is not satisfied to just exist – he is questioning how that existence came about – and, as he had made clear, he is not satisfied with the answers his environment (school and home) has been providing him. He is not sure whether to believe the answers he is told. Somehow he feels they miss something out. Of course, he is right...all the answers are far too simple to explain the complexities and subtleties of his questions. Perhaps I should have a conversation with him about evolution, for instance – and the origin of life.

I think, sometimes, society underestimates little children. Some people have the tendency to think such children don’t have meaningful thoughts. This is a mistake. Some little kids are busy thinking very big thoughts indeed. We do them no credit to ignore this possibility.

Thank you, Tiarnan for sharing your thoughts with me. They are always refreshing to hear. I hope I never cease to be surprised by them. 

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Tiarnan's philosophy of knowledge.

Yesterday, Fintan, 9,  taunted Tiarnan, 6, on his return from home.

“While you were out, we watched Shrek 4.”, he said, expecting an upset response, perhaps.

Tiarnan was unbothered.

“I don’t know what Shrek is.”, he said, calmly.

He paused a little as if considering the matter.

“If I don’t know about it, then it doesn’t exist!”, he concluded. For him that very much seemed to end the matter.

Fintan didn’t want to get into a, what seemed to him, pointless argument over the existence or non-existence of something he had seen...so he left it and did not respond.

I thought Tiarnan’s statement interesting. It could mean many things. He could be saying that if he hadn’t heard about it, Fintan must be making it up. Or it could mean that if he doesn’t know about it, then it won’t bother him not to see it – because he won’t know what he is missing. I am in favour of the latter interpretation. Either way, it is an interesting stance to take on missing out on something – and one which deflated Fintan’s attempt to make him bothered about it.

Not for the first time, I am struck by how much of interest can be found in the conversation of young children. One only has to listen carefully to hear many, often unique, conversational stances, ploys, understandings and come-backs. Each of our boys, has the tendency to utter odd lines, which stick in the mind. Though, as a personality, Tiarnan’s probably tends to the most bizarre of the three of them.

As I hear them speak in this way, I do wonder at what kind of adults will emerge from this period of intellectual and personal fermentation. Each of them promises to be at least a little different from the norm...and that can only be good.

Happy philosophizing Tiarnan!

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

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If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Real Steel - a boy's reflection.

The other day, we took our boys to see Real Steel, the robot boxing film with Hugh Jackman, largely because the younger ones were keen on seeing it. As ever, it was interesting to see how they reacted to it. Tiarnan, five, in particular, was thoughtful, after the film.

“Mummy...”, he began, with a sober air, “not all that is shiny is good.”

Syahidah peered down at him, curious about the meaning of this elusive remark.

Tiarnan gathered that an explanation was required.

“Noisy boy was shiny...but he didn’t even last.”, he observed.

Noisy boy was a robot in Real Steel – a robot that had been promoted as being talented at fighting. In fact, it got absolutely trounced, “shiny” though it was.

It seems clear that Tiarnan had absorbed a very interesting lesson from watching Real Steel. He had come to understand that one should not “judge a book by its cover”. He had taught himself, by observation, that not all is as it seems and that the substance of something may be very different from its appearance. This strikes me as a useful lesson to imbibe – and all the better for being one he taught himself, rather than one in which he was instructed. It is always, without fail, more effective for a child to come to their own understandings, than to be led to them, by “teachers”, I think. The child who thinks things out for themselves, is the child who becomes a good thinker. The child who is “taught” too much, may never learn to think independently. Thus, I am happy to see my own children working life and the world out for themselves: that is how it should be.

There is another side to his thinking which is evident. Tiarnan is forever forming little theories about the world. This remark: “Not all that is shiny is good”, constitutes a mini-theory – a summation of his understanding of the world. In toto, all his observations and theories amount to a nascent world view. It is fascinating to watch him construct this theoretical model of the world, from his lived experience. What is even more fascinating, is that he is doing it entirely himself, since the kinds of things he comes out with are not things in which we instruct him. We let him – as we let all our children – do their own thinking.

I can imagine him remarking to a diamond seeking girlfriend, in decades to come: “Not all that is shiny is good.” I wonder if she will understand what he means?

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The brevity of life

Tiarnan, five, dwells on topics which rarely concern little boys of his age. He is in the habit of wrestling with the deeper issues of life, and the world around him. It seems clear that he is trying to understand the nature of life and the context in which it is lived.

Yesterday, he commented to me:

"I wish that people never died, in real life."

He looked somewhat pained as he said this, squinting his features as if peering into the future we all must face, one day: Death.

He discussed his thoughts further on the matter, but his words were a little too quick and light for me to catch, in his high voice. However, at the end, I heard his final observation, as he looked up at me again.

"Humans are just too easy to break."

He didn't seemed pleased at this poor design work. With a slightly heavy air, he then wandered off, perhaps in search of his brothers, for some lighter fare.

This little snippet of conversation leads me to reflect again on the weightiness that preoccupies the thoughts of my youngest son. He is quite the little philosopher. I am led to wonder how he will be when he grows up, if this is how he is, at the beginning. I would be unsurprised to find him becoming a ruminative writer, who contemplates matters of some depth, with great care. After all, he is already doing as much, in his daily conversation, as a five year old.

I have no answer to life and death, Tiarnan. Yet, there is hope for children as young as you are, that science might learn to forestall death, to a great extent, in the course of your lifetime.

Perhaps, for little Tiarnan, Death could be much further away than it was for his parents' generation. I hope so, anyway. I would love for my children to endure for a very long time, indeed.

Posted by Valentine Cawley


(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

What you see is what you get.

A couple of months ago, Tiarnan, four, collared his mum, Syahidah with a thought.

"Sometimes," he began, ruminatively, "you cannot tell the good or the bad...but you can DEFINITELY see the ugly."

When I heard this, I thought it eminently wise, for one so small. He had come to observe that moral quality, was not immediately visible, or was, perhaps, at times, ambiguous but that beauty, or its absence was immediately evident.

It is interesting, for me, that he thinks on these matters. He is weighing what is good and what is evil - and how to determine these. He has realized that it is not always easy to say, without further information, whether something or someone is good or evil. He has also come to understand the immediacy of visual beauty and its opposite.

I do not know whether matters of good and evil; beauty and ugliness, are the common thought of four year olds, everywhere...I suspect not. However, it is revealing to me, that they are the material of Tiarnan's thoughts. He is, though he knows it not, having philosophical thoughts. He is thinking about moral values and aesthetics - and, indeed, many other philosophical concerns. His thoughts are concerned with the human sphere and the human experience and what he understands of them. It is not so important what, exactly, he thinks of these matters, but the very fact that he IS thinking of these matters. It says something deep about the nature of his nascent personality and mind, that he should dwell on such matters over other things. I am led to see a certain commonality between Tiarnan and my younger self. For, you see, I have written a book that considers many similar matters, though it is yet unpublished. I find it telling, therefore, that little Tiarnan, who knows nothing of my work, my writings or my deeper thoughts on life (for I have yet to discuss them with him, of course), should, of his own accord, give thought to allied matters.

We are each unique, yet we each share dispositions with our forebears. So it is with my children: though they are unique and unlike any others, in some ways, they are also akin to ourselves, sharing elements, themes, inclinations and instinctive outlooks, with either myself or my wife. It is reassuring to see those dispositions and ways of thought emerging, unprompted, from their growing minds. It informs me that, one day, there will be in this world, three young men who understand their parents better than any others in all the world. They will understand us, because, in some ways, they will be us, be echoes of ourselves, reverberating into a future we may never know, for, of course, our time is likely to be less than theirs. When we are gone, they will remain and, in some way, parts of our human tale, will go on, told by other tongues, and other minds, but informed, nevertheless by some of the very same substance, that made us, what we are and, one day, were.

Carry on thinking Tiarnan...for as your world view forms, I will be here, to understand it - and you.

(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.

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.)

How to win the aging race.

About four months ago, I was having a discussion with Fintan, six, about life. I have always found his discussions interesting since there tends to emerge from them, an unexpected wisdom. I find his way of seeing appealing and his quickness to understand refreshing. However, these are things that people who don't know him, tend to overlook - because they don't pause to actually talk to him. Thus, to them, he appears to be just a friendly, gentle boy - but he is much more than that. I suppose, in life, people often fail to see others as they are - because they fail to take the time or effort to get to know them.

I was sitting in the living room with the entire family when Fintan called across the coffee table to me:

“How old is Ramin?”

Ramin is the son of some friends of ours.

“Five”, I said, fairly, but not entirely sure of the answer.

“I’m six.”, he declared, with the merest hint of triumph.

“Yes and I am 41: I win!”, I announced, with a flourish I didn't feel.

“Actually, the sad thing about life and getting older is that the winner is really losing, because he has less time left. So I am winning but losing.”, I observed to Fintan, matter of factly.

There was not, then, the slightest pause before he answered: he threw back his answer as if he were playing tennis and reflecting the ball, even as it crossed the net to him.

“And I am losing, but winning.”

He looked at Ancient me, with his young eyes and there was something of mystery in them. There was no triumph in his declaration, no sense that he actually wanted to win this race. He understood, I felt, about life and mortality and that the fact that his father was "winning", but "losing" was nothing to be happy about. Fintan is like an ocean that not so much stretches off into the distance - as all oceans do - but which is deeper than one could ever know: it is filled with hidden, ever unknowable depths that may never be seen, or felt, but from which, the occasional hint of their existence emerges. So it is, in speaking to Fintan. Occasionally, he throws out a remark that makes you realize, in an instant, that he understands something you might not have expected him to, or that he has noticed something perhaps you didn't even notice yourself.

In an adult, one might call such a quality wisdom - but I am not sure if that is what it should be called in a child. It seems strange to think of a child as wise - since wisdom depends so much on time for reflection, growth and maturity. Perhaps, then, it should be called "insight". Fintan has flashes of unexpected insight and comes out with remarks, at surprising moments, that strike one as philosophical. I think he has a good feeling for life and what it means, yet I don't know where this intuition comes from, or where it might lead.

The funny thing about Fintan is that he is so disarming. His manner is so innocent, so gentle, so guileless that one simply does not expect him to come out with the things he does, when he does. Someone who did not know him well, could easily fail to know him at all. In a way, he is the most inaccessible of my sons, the one least accurately read, at first. It is very clear, for instance, that Ainan is effulgurantly bright; that Tiarnan is whimsical and surprising - but Fintan is not clearly seen: he is like a Teddy Bear that just happens to speak like Socrates, when you actually take the time to listen. Most people just see the teddy bear, however. These are, however, people who don't take the time to get know people. So, in just seeing Fintan's teddy bearishness, they are revealing that they are, themselves, a little shallow in their understanding of the world: they miss what is right in front of them.

Fatherhood is an adventure without limit. I cannot know where it is all going, what it all means, or what shall happen. All I can I do, is to do my best, along the way, to help my children on their individual journeys - whatever those journeys happen to be, or wherever they choose to go. Some people worry about failing as a father - but I don't think you can say that a father has failed, as long as he actually tries to be there, tries to help his children grow in whichever direction they choose. The only fathers who fail, are the ones who never try at all. Well, that is not me. I am trying, everyday, to understand, and to be guided by my growing understanding in how I might help my sons become whatever they choose to be. That choice, of course, is key. Some parents do all the choosing for their children. I think, however, that such children are likely to be chosen into unhappiness.

I don't know the future. I know this, however: my sons will be what they want to be, within the limits of what can be realized with whatever luck we have and whatever resources we can muster. I hope that will be enough.

In the meantime, Fintan will, no doubt, reveal glimmers of his unexpected wisdom and leave traces of conversations to be remembered for years to come.

(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.

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.)

Fintan's Olympic ways.

Fintan is a bit of a philosopher, though you might not guess it from his curly headed cuteness. To find that out, you have to listen to him, a bit. Only then does it become clear quite what is going on in his capacious head.

A couple of days ago, Fintan, six, was talking to his mother, Syahidah.

He turned to her with a pondering look, in his eyes.

"So...", he began, carefully, as if laying out a thought like a cloth on a table, "The first is the winner. The second is what?"

Syahidah looked down at him, not suspecting where this might be going. "The runner-up.", she said, reaching back to memories of sporting events.

"And the third?", pursued Fintan.

"The third place.", she said, a little at a loss for a more colourful description.

Fintan wasn't satisfied with that. Perhaps it lacked the poetry everything good in life should have.

Syahidah knew that more was required, so she decided to elaborate a bit, and try another tack: "It's like this, you see: the first gets the gold; the second gets the silver; the third gets the bronze."

Fintan's eyes grew alert to the possibilities. This was more like it.

"And what number am I?", he prompted, his voice speeding up a little, as an idea occurred to him. "I want to be the BROWN stuff, the Earth."

Syahidah allowed herself an instant's sheer puzzlement - but Fintan went on too quickly to allow it to last.

"Because then I will get the gold, the silver AND the bronze."

Syahidah was quite dumbfounded by the profundity of Fintan's answer. He wanted the soil in which the metal ores were found, so that he would get ALL the medals: how sharp of him.

Fintan's words had the air of an ancient tale of wisdom - something Aesop might have said, over a fire, at night, to his friends. So, what she learnt, in that moment, is that there is more to Fintan's questions, than might first appear - and he is very quick to see the broader possibilities of a situation and to divine a unique solution, that solves all the problems, at once.

Well done, Fintan, my Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winner.

(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.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm/3305973/
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.)

Tiarnan's morning toast.

Tiarnan, three, is one of those children whose youthful energy invariably makes anyone older than six feel geriatric. This superabundance of life-force is particularly evident first thing in the morning, when he is brighter and perkier than even a small star could be.

This morning, his face shone with his early morning intensity. He looked up at his mother on sighting her and said, cheerily: "Here's to another episode of Tiarnan!"

What a wonderful expression...and how interesting is the viewpoint that had to give rise to it. He has likened his world to a television series, with each day, an episode. I suppose he is not far wrong, since he has begun a new life, in a new country and each day has its new adventures, here. Then again, I wonder at what he means when he compares his life to TV...after all, his most recent TV experience has been the remake of The Prisoner, with Ian McKellen (as Number Two) and Jim Caviezel (as Number Six). One wonders if he is likening his own life, therefore, to the bizarre world of The Prisoner, where all are supposedly free, but none are, in actuality. He has watched no other TV series in the past couple of weeks, so if he has a particular series in mind, it is most likely to be that one.

Whatever he means, I can only agree to his toast: "Here's to another episode of Tiarnan!", indeed.

(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.

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/

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

Philosophy and the art of categorization.

Not all is as it seems in the world of Fintan, pocket philosopher and splitter of hairs.

In June, when Fintan was still four, I had a brief encounter with his own particular brand of logic.

Fintan looked up at me with the air of someone about to make an important announcement. "I need a bicycle with two wheels, Daddy."

"You've got a bicycle with two wheels, Fintan.", I pointed out, most accurately, I thought.

"No Daddy, the tires are not wheels, because they are flat."

He had a point after all.

"They have to be turned into wheels by Atto.", he went on, finding an answer to the problem of his No-wheeled Bicycle.

Atto is the title for Fintan's grandfather on his mother's side. Atto is famous for his gift with his hands, able to coax any uncooperative mechanical object to behave itself. I wasn't put out that he thought of Atto before me in such a context: for it was a true observation that Atto was better at all things mechanical, than I have ever been. Then again, he was better at such things than almost anybody.

I found Fintan's categorizing amusing. It meant that, for him, a wheel was not a wheel, if it could not do its job. It may look like a wheel but, for Fintan, if it was not fully functional, then it was something else. It is not a bad way to look at the world and may, in fact, be more useful than a more conventional way of seeing the world. Most people would have looked at his "bicycle" and seen a bicycle. Fintan looked at it and saw a "No-wheeled machine" that could not function as a bicycle since it hadn't got any wheels yet. So, to him, it wasn't even a bicycle - hence his request for a bicycle with two wheels. Speaking to him, sometimes, is like speaking to a philosopher, because he draws distinctions which are subtle, but valid, when you examine the underlying logic.

I like the way he sees the world. He views it differently from the way I do - and from the way others do, too. I hope he grows up with his own world view intact. I hope that exposure to the way others think, doesn't cause his own thinking to be given up, for theirs. His is both funny and interesting.

His bicycle, by the way, is now a "two-wheeled" one, according to Fintan's philosophical definition of a wheel.

(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.)