I spent the day with our nephew Tuesday. Considering that I have very little practical experience with children, spending the entire day with him is always interesting. I immediately realized that my detailed itinerary for the day was out the window when, as I was driving to the movie theater, he explained that watching movies in theaters was boring. I decided to just go with the flow and we ended up at Chuck E. Cheese. As usual, he showed no interest in the types of the games that I like. After several hours of feeding coins into machines to get tickets, we set out to find a Science kit. Yes, my nephew wanted a Science kit. I know what you are thinking, “as a scientist that must be so exciting to discover he has an interest in Science”. Yes, it is. Very much so. But, as I discovered last month when we spent hours and hours at the Science museum touching, interacting and participating with every exhibit we could, only for him to walk right pass the molecular genetics exhibit and the pathogenic bacteria exhibit, my field does not interest him. We later ended up at the Cody house where we played Guitar Hero for a while and did one of the science experiments from the kit. He says he had a great time and I always enjoy spending time with him. Since the last time the two of us spent the day together, during which he delivered a crushing blow to my childhood when we made a stop at a fancy toy store and he told me that the aisle with Star Wars collectibles “looks boring” and “I don’t want to go down there” (Seriously, how can a 12″ Lando Calrissian action figure not be cool?,) he has become a Star Wars fan. So, I figure it is only a matter of time before likes arcade games that do not distribute tickets and becomes interested in Microbiology. I just have to be patient.
