Child Prodigy

As the Nana-of-the-Year Wannabe that I am, I’ve been watching Aiden play, and learned the following: there are dozens of pets with catchy names like Bluefury Magmayhem and Shivertusk, which are monsters until you battle and catch them (maybe?), epic battles and quests. Aiden has told me the names of his pets approximately one million times and, again, memory doesn’t serve. I don’t even understand how math figures into this! But my grandson has been yearning to become a “member,” and finally this week he achieved that high honor. I assumed it came upon reaching a superior level of aptitude, but (SURPRISE) “membership” is a paid opportunity (the game is otherwise free).

And even if there had been intricate online worlds of wonder for tots to explore, my folks would have been no more intrigued by them than the average parent of that era was (which is to say, not at all). I believe it was my generation that was the first to rewrite the old saw “Children Should Be Seen and Not Heard” to “Children!! Always Seen and Ever Heard!! Be Quiet, Grownups, Little Susan is Speaking!!” As long as we let them adult in peace, Joanie and Tom didn’t know or care what soap operas we were watching (say, boys and girls, can you spell “illegitimate”?)

By the time my five kiddos entered the picture, we parents were expected to rattle off every single Sesame Street character, and have more than a passing acquaintance with the Goosebumps, Amelia Bedelia and Magic Tree House series. Sadly, this knowledge came at the expense of the various wisdom-nuggets we’d accrued before having children. Seems I cannot recite Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” anymore, because that brain-space has been permanently invaded by the entire TV lineup on “TGIF.”

Thanks mostly to Ya-Jhu, the boys are not spoiled rotten, so I feel we can indulge them from time to time. And it is very cute to see Aiden bursting with delight when playing his beloved video game. Will he use these finely honed skills to become an astrophysicist? Doesn’t matter. To me, he (and Peter) will always be Child Prodigies.