Nurturing Nerds

This past summer I gave my grandson, Bump, a book I got when I was a kid, Answers and More Answers.  It's a science book, but of course, it isn't quite up to date.  I thought that perhaps he'd get a kick out of it.  He said, "I think we should keep this at your house, Nana."  It awaits him at my house.

But today, I ordered Nat Geo for little kids for him and his sister, Bell.  I also ordered a journal for him that gives a weird fact per day and encourages him to write something weird he experienced each day.  I also ordered a couple of DVDs about animal facts.

I think it's important to feed, not only the saxophone and piano players in my grands, but to also feed their nerddom in general.  They are already facing so much culture via electronics, traditions, and school.  I want to balance all their coolness with a hearty dose of nerd.

Their lives are already so full, at ages two and five, that I wonder if there is much room left for wonder.  Wonder is, after all, the basis of all nerddom.  I mean, everyone falls and scrapes a knee, but to be able to watch the blood first come out and then coagulates and then forms a scab, and wonder at the body's healing process - THAT is something.  Everyone eventually learns to blow across the top of a bottle to make a sound, but to experiment with different levels of liquid to create different sounds - That is special.  Spinning a globe is great fun.  Realizing what a teensy, tiny speck we are in the galaxy even before we have the words to describe the sheer power of that realization - THAT is enlightenment.  Well, it's as step toward enlightenment anyway.

I think all babies are born enlightened, gifted, brilliant.  Unfortunately, I think it's usually taught right out of them.  Out of us.

My advice is this.  Learn to read, then never quit reading.  Read up high in trees and with your feet in mud and on the roof under stars.  Write about it.  Love yourself and others enough to read and write to and about them.  Embrace your nerddom.  Be proud of it.  Listen to all the music and wonder.  Never stop wondering.