Publications
Partners
Parent24 Editor, Scott Dunlop
I love quirky news stories. The kinds of tales you couldn’t invent, they seem so off the wall. What I love about them is that they prove just how unpredictable life may be - and that the minute we think we have it all figured out, something surprising will remind us that we only see a dim reflection of reality. Kids are experts at doing this.
How’s this for a story: A 4-year-old girl loved dinosaurs and fossil hunting. While walking on the beach with her family, she saw some tiny black objects, realised what they were and dug up the tiny fossils. Her family took the fossils to the university to have them identified, and, astonishingly, the tiny child had discovered an entirely new species of dinosaur - one which scientists have named after the now 9-year-old Daisy Morris, the “Vectidraco daisymorrisae”.
Cool, hey?
What I find so enthralling about listening to kids chatting away is that they have an uncanny way of uncovering deep philosophical truths with their untarnished views. As adults, we tend to have curtains of preconceived ideas, even prejudices, obscuring our ability to analyse situations. Kids look at things and say, “well, it’s pretty obvious, from my point of view”. And if they aren’t sure, they ask questions.
If I were that little girl strolling on the beach, I would have ignored the little black stones. I don’t see the world with dinosaur eyes anymore. Her story reminded me of a time when I would scan the ground for fossils, even finding one or two, as a child. Now I look at the clouds to see if rain is heading my way, or stare at the surroundings without taking them in.
But if you look to the clouds, you can see dinosaurs there, too. Great, grey beasts whose sliding, shifting dance across the sky is almost as impressive as the fossils found below.
The world is a marvelous place, if you look at it with the right perspective. If you forget how to do that, you’re in danger of becoming as frozen as a fossil yourself.
Now to spend some time with my children dreaming up what names to give OUR dinosaur, when we find it. It’s just a matter of time...
If you and your kids found a dinosaur, what would you name it? Ask your children to draw your family dinosaur, take a pic of it, and send it to chatback@parent24.com. You could win a R250 Kalahari.com voucher!
How’s this for a story: A 4-year-old girl loved dinosaurs and fossil hunting. While walking on the beach with her family, she saw some tiny black objects, realised what they were and dug up the tiny fossils. Her family took the fossils to the university to have them identified, and, astonishingly, the tiny child had discovered an entirely new species of dinosaur - one which scientists have named after the now 9-year-old Daisy Morris, the “Vectidraco daisymorrisae”.
Cool, hey?
What I find so enthralling about listening to kids chatting away is that they have an uncanny way of uncovering deep philosophical truths with their untarnished views. As adults, we tend to have curtains of preconceived ideas, even prejudices, obscuring our ability to analyse situations. Kids look at things and say, “well, it’s pretty obvious, from my point of view”. And if they aren’t sure, they ask questions.
If I were that little girl strolling on the beach, I would have ignored the little black stones. I don’t see the world with dinosaur eyes anymore. Her story reminded me of a time when I would scan the ground for fossils, even finding one or two, as a child. Now I look at the clouds to see if rain is heading my way, or stare at the surroundings without taking them in.
But if you look to the clouds, you can see dinosaurs there, too. Great, grey beasts whose sliding, shifting dance across the sky is almost as impressive as the fossils found below.
The world is a marvelous place, if you look at it with the right perspective. If you forget how to do that, you’re in danger of becoming as frozen as a fossil yourself.
Now to spend some time with my children dreaming up what names to give OUR dinosaur, when we find it. It’s just a matter of time...
If you and your kids found a dinosaur, what would you name it? Ask your children to draw your family dinosaur, take a pic of it, and send it to chatback@parent24.com. You could win a R250 Kalahari.com voucher!
