The Worm

As I walked across the parking lot today, I saw a worm struggling for life in the middle of the blacktop.

It not knowing of the inevitability of its death.  I not knowing what misfortune had brought it here.

I mumbled, “I don’t know why I’m doing this,” as I threw the worm into the soft, wet dirt.

And yet, I knew.  Because in the moment previous, I had completely identified with the worm.

Why Kids Don't Need to Wear Jackets in the Autumn

I mentioned to Pint-sized that before she leave the house for school (this was last week), that she should take her jacket.  I got distracted and forgot to verify that she followed-through.  When we got to school, and the sun was shining, she made the point of telling me she was right.  "See Mom, I was right, I don't need my jacket.  Because the earth moves and the sun rises in the sky and warms the earth.  So, I'm warm and don't need my jacket."  Me, "Really?  Duh!"  [I'm thinking, while we're at would you like me to calculate the orbital movements of the earth for you?]

Orbital Mechanics and Radio Frequencies

Kids Viewing Solar Eclipse - Some Know Where to Look

My daughter is 4 1/2 years old.  What I share below has two caveats:

1. Before you post criticisms regarding my science answers, know that I don't care.  I've got two degrees in engineering and I don't remember everything I ever memorized.  This was after work, driving on the freeway, and I was trying to answer honestly, simply, and quickly before my daughter lost interest and returned to playing her Leapster (which she did at least once).
2. I am not sharing this in order to brag.  I'm sharing this for posterity, so some day I remember the good moments, and the unique challenges of raising my particular children.  Also, to share with everyone that no child is the same and no parent-child relationship is the same.  I have a testimony that children and parents are assembled in families with intent by God, "to help us become what He wants us to be" [The Family Is Of God, by Matthew Neeley].

Yesterday, my daughter was in the back seat of the car and asked, "Mom, when the earth moves what happens to the penguins?"  

I gave a lousy answer because I couldn't put words to my thoughts.  I wanted to say that we're small and the earth is large and we don't feel the movement of the earth as we ride on it.  I instead said, "The earth spins on its axis [with hand motions], but the penguins get to stay on their icebergs." 

Pint-sized, "Icebergs?!?" 

Me, "Yes, on their icebergs OR frozen tundra." [figuring even if I was wrong on exact environment, I'd take the chance to expand her vocabulary]

So, today I tried to fix it during our commute home.

Me, "I want to talk to you about penguins."

Pint-sized looks up eyes-wide.

Me,"Okay, pause your Leapster."  "Yesterday you asked what happens to the penguins when the earth moves.  It's like us.  We are small compared to the earth so we don't feel the movement. Okay?"

Pint-sized, "Okay, but my question is ... what keeps the earth here?" [exact wording]

Me, "Ah, well the earth moves in an oval or circle -- oval, about the sun.  And while it moves in an oval it also spins [with hand motions].  [I briefly think about mentioning precession, but I don't.]  But it moves around the sun due to gravity.  Gravity is a force that prevents us from floating through the air.  Remember your brother learned about mass in science? [shakes head no]  Well, the sun has a lot of mass or particles which means it has a lot of gravity."

Pint-sized, "So, can we stand on the sun?"

Me, "Well no, because its hot we'd burn up.  But even if it wasn't hot, it doesn't have any land to stand on, its just gas.  So, we'd go right through it."

Pint-sized, "So, can we put a house on the sun?"

Me, "No, because there's no land to build it on, it'd go right through."

Pint-sized, "But ... if it has gravity, we can't go through the other side."

Me [a little teary-eyed], "Yes!  You're right, the gravity means you'd go to the center and stay there, you can't go through.  And we need to look in your space book when we get home because I'm not sure if the sun has a solid core or not."

[I'm making an edit here because I forgot a portion.]
Me, "You know there's other planets that rotate around the sun.  There's Jupiter and Mars.  We think Jupiter is all gas.  Mars has land, we've sent rovers and science experiments there.  But we don't think it has any air to breathe."
Pint-sized, "But if we had space suits we could breathe."
Me, "Yes, we could, but we haven't gone to Mars yet."
Pint-sized, "Why not?"
Me, "Well, its a long trip and its further from the sun so we need more energy to get out there.  More fuel in our rockets."
Pint-sized, "Why can't we just go under the sun?" [with hand motions]
Me, [explaining again] "The sun is here, the earth is here, and Mars is further out.  So we go this way."
Pint-sized, "But why can't we go under it like this?" [Again with hand motions]
Me, "Ah!  From earth the sun looks very close, but its not --  its just very big.  But if we saw the sun in the sky we'd probably go the opposite direction."[she was satisfied, even though I basically did to orbital mechanics what Newtonian physics does to the real nature of the universe -- as in everyone learns the world according to the limited understanding of Newton before they learn Einstein's relativity]

[end of edit]

Pint-sized, "What about those big things at your office?"

Me, "Oh, the satellite dishes?  But they are actually radio signal receivers."

Pint-sized, "Radio signals?"

Me, "Okay, so the little particles in the air they start moving [wave motion with arm] and we listen, like on the radio station, and we hear music or other stuff."

Pint-sized, "How do we know the signals are there?"

Me, "Well, sometimes the particles move like this [slow wave] or sometimes like this [fast wave]."

Pint-sized, [giggle] "Really, really fast?"

Me, "Yes, that's called frequency.  So the radio stations assign numbers to those frequencies and we tune in and listen to those frequencies.  In fact, FM [pointing to the radio] stands for frequency modulation."

Pint-sized, "Okay, I'm done."

Me, "Okay, that was a good conversation."

Pint-sized, [eyes-wide, smiling] "Yes, that was a lot!"

Me, "Any time you have question."

Later, we were almost home, and out of the silence ...

Pint-sized, "You know 2 plus 2 equals 4."

Me, "Yes, what does 3 plus 1 equal?"

Pint-sized, [quiet] "It also equals 4!"

Me, "Good job!"

Pint-sized, "That's cause I used my fingers!"

Me, "Good!  You know you keep learning math and science and you can do a lot of cool things with the planets and the sun.  I use my math and science a lot at work.  I also use a lot of my reading."