There was the little boy playing at a magnet table (a covered sand table with magnets underneath that move things over the sand… I should post a picture of it for illustrative purposes). The magnets, which are attached by strings to the table, are used to move, in the case of this table, plastic frogs and lizards. I told him that there was another magnet table with boats, but he explained very emphatically, "I like boats, but I also like animals!"
"What kind of animals?" I asked.
"Reptiles," he answered with great enthusiasm.
I asked him if someone ever came to his school and showed the class some reptiles. No, he said, but in first grade someone brought a horseshoe crab AND a puffer fish to the class!
So, I told him about a birthday party I went to in elementary school (probably around third grade) where a guy brought in a really big boa constrictor, along with a tortoise and a few other reptiles. The highlight of the presentation was when he had all the guests (around 20 kids; it was one of those birthday parties where basically the whole class gets invited) line up and hold their arms in front of them so that we could all hold the boa. It was probably about 10 feet long, and at least as large around as an man's arm.
The look on this kid's face was just amazing. You could tell that he was just so full of interest; when another kid came to the table and he explained how it worked, he didn't say "you move the magnets UNDER the table…" the way the parents do. No, he said, "[the frog] is moving because of the magnetic forces!"
I had this brief mental image of him growing up to be a science nerd (a term I use positively), or at least watching Bill Nye with a big smile on his face.
The other nice moment came when one of the kids came over to the art table to do some coloring before going home. When her mother came over, she asked, "when will I be going back [to the doctor]?" Her mother answered, "hopefully not until your next annual checkup." Then she said, "but I want to come back and color with her…"
On a less serious note, I discovered that:
a) There are, in fact, TWO big screen TVs in the waiting room, one on each side, and they have different movies playing on repeat.
b) My "arts and crafts" cart, in addition to not containing anything for post-grade 3 kids (except for cards), also lacks safety scissors and glue, not to mention Valentine's Day-themed activities.
c) Some kids *do* understand how VHS tapes work, or at least don't ask "what's that??". I was so relieved that when one girl asked "why isn't anything showing on the TV?" I only had to say "they have to rewind the tape so that it will be back at the beginning." When DVDs became standard, I realized that my generation's experience of rewinding VHS tapes (as well as fast-forwarding through almost ten minutes of previews) would soon divide us, in a very profound sense, from those raised on DVDs.
d) At least in the Sesame Street coloring book we have, Cookie Monster still eats cookies (apparently he now gobbles up fruit*). Even while swimming.
e) It is possible to follow a movie with not-so-accurate close-captioning, even when all you can hear are the scenes when Phil Collins starts signing about love, danger, and growing up in the jungle. (The movie-on-repeat on my side of the waiting room was Tarzan; it was a lot more intense than I had remembered but in a good way. Although the opening scene was still unbearably depressing).
* = I am really, really tempted to write an entry about how much children's television has gone downhill since I was a kid, no matter how obnoxiously pretentious it is for a 20-year-old to consider such things.
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