A few months back, I was catching up with a few of my friends and when visiting Anila, my family friend, I got the opportunity to spend some time with Aarav, her 5-year-old son. As we settled down catching up on stuff, Aarav informed me of the new hobby he is working on drawing and coloring. Like kids of his age, he was excited to have people come over, which meant showcasing his talent to the outside world. Once he realized these adults are keen to see his work and not just sit around and gossip, he picked up his drawing books. He placed the drawing book in front of us and started showingv all the artwork he has done till date. One book was of various dinosaurs that he had drawn.
We adults got back to our gossip, when Aarav picked one of his drawing books and sat next to me. He started showing one particular dinosaur that he has drawn and asked me to guess the name. As a kid he assumed adults knew everything and I as an adult, did not want to embarrass myself. Unfortunately, from childhood it has been imbibed into us that if we do not know an answer, we should not be vocal about it. I was in a sticky situation now, as my knowledge of dinosaur species was refrained to Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, velociraptor, thanks to the sci-fi movies that came in the 90’s. (Why bother on the nomenclature when I was least interested to learn about them)
As I did not want to look ignorant in front of a confident child who knew the answer, I quickly nodded my head and said “Yup, I am aware, now you tell me what it is called?” and he happily informed me, “It’s Argentinosaurus, Purni aunty.” I got away from this situation, however his mom and I were sure he was fibbing and came up with his own name and it sounded more like the country Argentina. Aarav got excited with the new game and started quizzing all the adults in the house. (Why should it always be the adults asking the question?)
We were sure he had invented the word “Argentinosaurus”, and we decided to google search; to catch his white lie but we were in for a shock. Argentinosaurus did exist and it wasn’t a name invented by him. We asked Aarav how he knew the name and he was happy that once again he has drawn everyone’s attention towards him. Then his father informed that once when he was watching a documentary on Dinosaurs, Aarav also sat with him and was watching the show. Since the show intrigued him and the extinct animal has fascinated him, he started gathering information about dinosaurs through various possible forums.
On several occasions we have heard people telling us to observe kids and learn from them. Kids always amaze us with their innocence, their curiosity, adapting to the environment and having fun without any inhibition. As an adult I learnt there was a dinosaur called Argentinosaurus
I have been in that situation so many times. I am constantly amazed at children's ability to absorb knowledge like a sponge especially when it is something they are interested in. It is always a joy to see kids explain or show something they found out for the first time. The joy and wonder stays with you always.
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