BY KELLY HAGEN
How did you know?
- GoofBall Son
I’m going to need to add some context to this week’s question.
My son is 5 years old and goes to preschool. Near as I can tell, he learns a lot of new facts per day. Math facts, alphabet facts, animal facts, feeling facts, trivial facts about ’80s TV sitcom “Cheers” … It’s a lot of stuff, and he can’t hold it all in.
“Dad, did you know that five and two is seven?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“How did you know?”
Because you just told me? Because I, too, once learned math? Because I just happen to have five apples and two apples in a plastic bag, so I quick lumped them together and counted them on my fingers?
I still haven’t found a good answer to “How did you know?”
Like most things a 5-year-old says, I suspect his question doesn’t mean exactly what I think it does. When a 5-year-old tells you his stomach hurts, there’s a good chance it means he is nervous. Just doesn’t know how to say it.
“My hair is curvy, Dad.”
“I know. I can see that.”
“How did you know?”
“I just told you. I can see your hair.”
“How did you see that?”
After having looked up the functions and all the moving parts in the human eye on Wikipedia, then doing my best dad-gone best to repeat what I just read in a language a 5-year-old would understand a few dozen times, I figured out he’s not asking me how my eyes work.
He’s asking me when did I learn about wavy hair or addition. Because he just did, from preschool and/or the British educational cartoon shorts he watches on repeat on YouTube lately. And he wants confirmation that this is how I originally learned about those things, too.
Right?
Just a theory of mine. But, no, son. We didn’t have YouTube when I was your age, and I didn’t go to preschool. My first day of school ever was in kindergarten, and I spent most of it crying because I missed my mom.
Coincidentally, that’s how I spent my last day in college, too. Weird.
But it’s nice. I love seeing my kids engaged in the educational process. My fourth-grader daughter is building robots out of Legos and learning to play the viola now. Seemingly, she enjoys both activities a whole bunch.
I didn’t have these same opportunities when I was their age. Sure, I had Legos, but they didn’t come with motors and circuitry. They just formed a sailboat, if I followed the instructions.
There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your kids smile and ask questions about eye colors and stuff. How do I know this? I counted the apples in my mind, that’s how.
Kelly Hagen is a former newspaper journalist, a writer and communications professional. He lives in Bismarck, ND, with his wife, Annette, and their two young children. If you have a question you’d like to Ask A Dad, send an e-mail to kelly.hagen@gmail.com.
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