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May 10 - Curiosity Made The Clowder Stronger

By Stefano Blanca Sciacaluga

I don’t have children, but a few family members and friends do, so I think I know a think or two about interaction with tiny humans. I’ve also learnt that people, and particularly parents, can get a little angry when children are being annoying. I mean, I get it, I see your kids for a while, have fun and then head home whilst you hang out with them ALL THE TIME. So when kids get to that age where they can’t stop asking why to everything ad infinitum I understand how some parents (read: most) get crazy ideas of flinging their children out of the window. It’s pretty much how Homer felt when Bart and Lisa were in the back seat asking “are we there yet?” but you can’t switch off the TV if it gets too much, and it’s not a yellow cartoon but your real life child who’s being a total Simpson ALL. THE. TIME. But what does this mean?

What I’ve learnt from being a child once and growing up around other people who were also children once is that not all children (as shocking as it may sound) are why children. I remember when I was a student in school (yes I was that too!) how out of classes of, I don’t know, twenty kids there were a lot of children that had definitely just come out of the simple why phase to go on to greater questions, and then there were children who just accepted things for the way they were. For fellow students (especially non-why-ers) why children can be a hindrance to progress, and for teachers it can mean a derailing of the whole lesson, going off on weird tangents that ended up in places that had nothing to do with the original question. All of this, quite frankly, and on first inspection, seems pretty annoying.

Then you get older, move on to comprehensive school and you start to realise that just as you were leaving to go to University everybody around you was almost definitely a why child. You can remember them clearly, and they’re still asking why. And it all carries over to University, where all the why children get together as why adults to study all sorts of things.

I’m guessing you’ve already guessed I ended up going to University with all these other why-ers. You’ve guessed correctly. I’ve never considered myself to be anything above average, I’ve led a life of mediocrity but I’ve always been extremely curious and inquisitive. I used to read a lot more than I do now and for some weird reason knew the name of every car model I saw down the street when I was really young. I was even using some words in Spanish that older people in my family didn’t know; words I’d heard on the television and looked up in the dictionary. The curiosity led me to learn all sorts of weird - and sometimes useless - facts, and to learn languages so I could ask questions to other people in other places and in other languages. The internet, of course, didn’t help - or actually helped a great deal - and I spent hours on end (and still do) in Wikipedia holes, jumping from article to article, opening up twenty tabs on my browser and never really getting through them all. I’ve never been really academic but I’ve always wanted to know more about how things work and why things are the way they are.

This ultimately means I am busy all the time. I am constantly on overdrive and trying to do more than I can handle at all times but it also means that it keeps me alert and on my toes. I’ve inadvertently become a jack of all trades, master of none, and I love it. I love knowing where places are on a map of the world, or which flag belongs to which country, or how tides deeply affect the north eastern coast of Russia. Just kidding I’ve made that up.

But being the way I am makes me happy, and interacting with other why-ers makes me happy too. Because it’s a good thing that children are asking why constantly, even if it can get on your nerves. It’s a good thing that their curiosity is taking them beyond just accepting the first thing they hear. It’s a good thing that they are questioning how and why things are the way they are. It’s a good thing that they eventually grow up and ask more interesting and useful questions, and go on to evolve into adults that have the strength of will to stand up for themselves and others against what non-why-ers would just accept.

So I have a little mission for everybody reading this, whether you’re a parent or not: 

  • Always have an answer to a child’s why.
  • Always give children that little bit extra knowledge which might push them to start asking why.
  • Never discourage children from asking questions by saying they’re annoying or things like that.
  • Give children the tools they need to find answers to questions for themselves.

Because right now there might not be as many curious cats out there and great things still get done, so imagine in the future every cat is a curious cat!

Stefano is a why-er, writer, artist, photographer and bassist of local bands Manatee and Bob and the Boys

www.stefanoblanca.com

 


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