Old Obsessions

My son Nicky is a very passionate child. When he likes something... he absolutely pours his entire being into it and obssesses over it until you can no longer stand hearing about it any longer. For a six-year old, Nicky goes out of his way to not only fancy his object-of-the-moment by simply looking at its pictures or watching movies about it. He actually goes online to read about it further, learn its scientific name (if it had one), note down trivia, research on books that may be available in bookshops, and actually go to these bookshops and see if they had it on sale. That's how intense and passionate this kid is!

At a very young age of 2, Nicky was fascinated with cars. So fascinated was he with this four-wheeled invention, that we now have possibly five parking lots to fill with his tons of toy cars. He used to dismantle each one, look at all its parts, study how the wheels turn and analyze the differences between each model. It came to a point when he would buy Car Finder magazines and read about the cars being sold... and could even name the most reasonably priced car being sold that week! And this was at age 4!

Then the affinity evolved from cars to Thomas the Tank Engine toys (of course we just HAD TO get the entire train set and the Thomas Friends), to Bob The Builder (yes, yes, we have the talking Lofty, Muck, Dizzy and Travis toys too...), and now he is deeply passionate with DINOSAURS.

His love for this old timers go much deeper than any of his older obsessions. I am amazed at how knowledgeable he is on the subject! He can rival any paleontologist when discussing the subject matter -- pointing out the detailed differences of a Pterodactyl and a Pterodon, enumerate all the carnivorous dinosaurs and the herbivores, debate on claims that the Brachiosaurus appears to have lived in the Jurassic Era and when in some books it says it existed in the Cretacious era.... It's absolutely crazy to be listening to all these information all day, everyday, believe me!

But despite moments of protests ("Please, Nicky... can we talk about something else... like Pyramids or constellations...."), I am so proud of my little boy. Fighting any fears that my Nicky is turning into a little nerdy Ross (from Friends, duh!), I focus instead on the positive effects of having affinities at an early age. His love for dinosaurs may build on his interests of other subject matters like paleontology, archaeology, geology, and cosmology. I read in the Paideia School website that "an affinity provides us with the connection, the engagement of process and meaning. The inspired learner learns not only about the subject which is the source of inspiration, but also how to learn. This person can take these essential skills and apply them to other learning situations."

Coolness. Sounds so scientific... Makes my family sound like geniuses! Hehe. Now I'm wondering what I have a passion for.....

Clothes.....shoes.....bags......shopping........ Wow, I feel smarter already! :-)