When Interest is Enough
When Ryan started writing letters at age three, something we didn’t know he could do or had any interest in doing, I ran out and bought special letter tracing cards, chunky pencils, primary writing paper – the works. After all, if my son was interested in writing letters, we were going to write letters. As it turned out, he wasn’t all that interested in writing letters, especially after I sat him down and showed him all of my new “treasures.” If truth be told, at eight, he’s still not all that interested in writing. It just happened that on that day five years ago, he had picked up a few letters from a favorite DVD and wanted to give writing a try; he was happy trying it out and setting it aside and was frustrated by my attempts to push him further.
My overreaction to Ryan’s writing exploration, I’m afraid to say, was not the only time I rushed head-first into one of my boys’ interests only to later learn it was simply an interest, something they wished to explore, and not a passion. And although I’d like to say I’ve learned my lesson, stepping back and waiting to see how one of my boys develops his interests and passions on his own remains difficult.
When people learn that my husband worked in the planetarium field for over twenty years and that my boys are both fascinated with outer-space, they say, “that’s to be expected.” They assume that we own a telescope, that Patrick’s told the boys all about space, constellations, rockets… and that the boys have retained all of it. Well, as it turns out, we don’t own a telescope and, while the boys do know a great deal about space, it’s not all, or even mostly, from their dad as this podcast recorded by Patrick, Ryan, and Connor for 365 days of astronomy will explain.
If you have a child who is interested in space and if you are considering purchasing a telescope for your children for Christmas or an upcoming birthday, be sure to listen to this podcast first… and then ask yourself, would letting them develop their interest in space by reading books, watching videos, visiting museums and planetariums, and going to special night-sky viewing events be enough?
If so, don’t forget that many areas have local amateur astronomy clubs that host night sky viewing for interested families on a regular basis. If you live in the Northern Virginia area, check out the website for NOVAC (Northern Virginia Astronomy Club) for dates, times, and locations. If you live outside our area, check with your local Park Authority or try Googling “Night Sky Viewing in your area here.”
For some additional Out-of-this-World websites, games, and such, you may want to check out Smart Bean’s e-article 10 Reasons Your Child Will Love Astronomy, but remember, don’t overdo it, young passions are easily smothered.