damn that kid
We were talking to this kid the other day, about video games, and why he liked them so much more than schoolwork. Because I think most people expect kids to say something like "homework's hard" or "I don't understand it" or something. (If you get past "boring", I guess.) But the thing this kid said was, "I like video games because there aren't consequences the way there are in school." Essentially, in a video game you can try things out, and learn what works in whatever way works best for you, and it doesn't matter what mistakes are made along the way, as long as you learn from them.
This, of course, is exactly what my dad pointed out this morning (thank you Ms. Fancy Stanford Psych Research Woman). It's why we tell kids /why/ we like their paintings (or, well, I wish this had been de rigeur in my childhood).
More importantly, though, I lay in bed this morning (after waking up far too soon after lying down) and realized that I do this—that my learning style is enough like this kid's, that I feel the need to eliminate variables to such a degree, that I find places where there don't seem to be consequences and run with them. (This worked once—in 8th grade PE class when I decided there was nothing to be lost from just swinging at the next damn thing with all my might, and damned if I didn't hit a solid line drive straight past the first baseman (without even once considering what might happen if I missed while swinging that hard). I'm pretty sure it hasn't since.)
Sadly, after that little epiphany, what this train of thought really lead me to was five and a half hours in front of a computer screen and now I miss my old college friend who come to think of it is supposed to be moving back out here some time soon...
This, of course, is exactly what my dad pointed out this morning (thank you Ms. Fancy Stanford Psych Research Woman). It's why we tell kids /why/ we like their paintings (or, well, I wish this had been de rigeur in my childhood).
More importantly, though, I lay in bed this morning (after waking up far too soon after lying down) and realized that I do this—that my learning style is enough like this kid's, that I feel the need to eliminate variables to such a degree, that I find places where there don't seem to be consequences and run with them. (This worked once—in 8th grade PE class when I decided there was nothing to be lost from just swinging at the next damn thing with all my might, and damned if I didn't hit a solid line drive straight past the first baseman (without even once considering what might happen if I missed while swinging that hard). I'm pretty sure it hasn't since.)
Sadly, after that little epiphany, what this train of thought really lead me to was five and a half hours in front of a computer screen and now I miss my old college friend who come to think of it is supposed to be moving back out here some time soon...
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