My daughter likes to write, too. Here’s a recent piece, illustrated by the author. Kingdom in Shadows By Alice Willett The Kingdom of Averendel was dying. One girl looked out of her window, the rain drizzling outside. The girl was crying. Her little sister came in with a letter. The girl turned, wiping tears from …
Tag: children
Guilt trip
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/08/Guilt.mp3[/podcast] Guilt has gotten a bad reputation in recent years. People talk about being “plagued by guilt” as if guilt were some kind of mental illness. But in fact, guilt is a very useful emotion. People who are entirely guilt-free have no constraints on their behavior. They can cheerfully commit all kinds of mayhem, from …
Children’s tastes in food
When I was a kid, my mother will confirm, I was a picky eater, the sort of kid who ordered a hamburger and fries at a Chinese restaurant, hated to have different kinds of food touching each other on the plate, and wouldn’t touch spinach, broccoli or Brussels sprouts with a ten-foot fork. My own …
Photo of the Day that was Actually Taken on Father’s Day: Me and My Girl
More photos here.
"Science is easy!"
My daughter received a Webkinz for her sixth birthday last week. Webkinz are stuffed animals which come with a code that provides access to a website where kids can play games, buy things for the online version of their animals, etc. Among the Webkinz activities are quizzes about various topics. Among the topics: science. Which, …
Queen for a Day
No, the title doesn’t refer to my upcoming performance in drag as the Mother in Class Act Studio‘s production of La Fille Mal Gardée, which is their annual ballet recital this year. (What, I haven’t mentioned that upcoming performance? Well, now I have: June 27, June 28, Riddell Centre, 7 p.m. Don’t miss it. I’ll …
Ain’t it the truth…
A great quote posted at About Last Night which seems particularly apropos since I’m in the throes of rehearsing Oklahoma! (I’m playing Jud) with Regina Lyric Light Opera: “Modern kids are raised with the understanding that people don’t spontaneously burst into song at crucial moments in their lives. And isn’t that a horrible thing, to …
Eye, eye, sir!
It’s not very often that one runs across a scientific study whose methodology consisted largely of watching the Fox TV show COPS. But that was how Mardi Kidwell, assistant professor of communication at the University of New Hampshire, went about her research on “the role of gaze in the interactional management of hysteria by the …
What’s real, and what’s pretend?
My five-year-old daughter just received her first visit from the Tooth Fairy. Soon, of course, she’ll be visited by Santa Claus. Being the scientifically minded parent that I am, I’m always providing my daughter with information about things like why it’s dark now when she gets up in the morning when it used to be …
IQ
Are kids today smarter than kids 30 or 40 years ago? (In other words, their parents?) The kids would say so, but then, every generation thinks it’s smarter (not to mention way cooler) than its parents. However, today’s kids just might have a leg to stand on: there’s been a steady increase in scores on …
The Saskatchewan Science Centre
Our world is largely shaped by science and technology. (Consider television!) The pace of such science-driven change is astonishing–and accelerating. Today’s young people will face a world we can barely imagine, and to do so successfully, they must be comfortable with and knowledgeable about science and technology. But are they? Comfortable, maybe, but knowledgeable? Hardly. …
My latest live walk and vlog
Buy Autographed Books
