Language

This is my weekend with the kids and I've been looking forward to it. I see them everyday but due to work, their schedule and a whole host of excuses that seem very shallow now, I don't really get to play with them much lately.

I took them to the local Science Centre yesterday for a playdate with a friend. One of the first things we saw was a ferrofluid and the kids were totally fascinated by it. Of course, they had to ask a bajllion questions about it, all starting with "Why?" - I tried to answer as best as I could, that the cylindrical shaft that they can pump up and down contained a magnet, that the dark liquid had supertiny magentically-susceptable coated bits mixed in and that the spiky shape that showed up when the magnet was close to the liquid was the extrusion of the magnetic field exerted on the liquid balanced by its viscosity. We also encountered a fog dish (mist from dry ice pooling in a large shallow dish) and a vortex chamber (mist from dry ice pulled into a vortex by powerful fans). Again, loads of questions. Language became a serious issue right away in all cases.

Talking to kids takes a special language. I try my best not to commit the fatal mistake of talking down to them; after being with the kids since they were born, I *know* they understand far more than they can express right now. But it's hard to explain things to them because the common reference points simply aren't there in most cases. They're inquisitive and that is very precious - I hope to do far better next outing.

Eventually, everything boiled down to, "Yeah, it's nifty, innit?" - I'm hoping that they got something out of it. And I'll keep trying.