Knowledge is power

A small boy holds a lump of gray plastic up to his teacher.

"Do you know what this is ?" he asks earnestly.
Teacher smiles and answers "Yes J-man, it's a shark!"

photo source - saucy sprinkles xxx

Small boy tries again.. "But do you know what sort of shark it is?"
Teachers tips head to the head thoughtfully and replies, "well, I think it is a great white shark."

Small boy states urgently:
"No actually, it is a Nurse shark, which isn't the same as a grey nurse shark. It's a bottom dwelling shark, found  on shallow reefs and mangroves swamps in sub-tropical waters. It is a nocturnal hunter and eats mainly crustaceans, molluscs, tunicates, sea snakes, and other fish, particularly stingrays."

Teacher smiles vacantly and nods head.

The small boy knows she didn't 'get it'

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

As each of our kids reaches the end of Yr 6, The Man I married and I take just that one child away for a few days. A few days when they have us all to themselves, when they call the shots and when we, as parents get to really focus on the new teenagery adult who is emerging. It is always a revelation, exciting and a true delight.
My wonderful parents have come each time and house-sat (we can't call it babysitting -very 'not-cool' to be Babysat for the remaining children, we just explain Nanna and Pop are house-sitting and almost as a side interest, making sure the other three kids stay alive for the week).

We took J-man to Queensland and ALL he wanted to do was go to Seaworld and see the sharks.

The plane -ho-hum
The hired car -ho-hum
The flash apatrment -ho-hum

The entrance to seaworld - Exciting.
The penguin display meant the sharks were nearby

Then the absolute havana
The underground shark viewing cave.





This photo of Sea World is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Down we went into a concrete cave
and the little boy who held my heart came alive..
Several school groups had come to Seaworld that day.

Our sweet boy, so sure of his information and authority gave impromptu lectures to these school groups for over an hour.
Pointing out sharks who camouflage on the seabed in the sand and their plans when some yummy food strolls by.
Talking about how sharks use all their senses to find their prey and how they show their alertness.
Calmly explaining that the people who had paid for a 'diving with the sharks experience" were in no danger as a) the sharks had already been fed ... and
 b) The divers didn't resemble any of the sharks known prey.



This photo of Sea World is courtesy of TripAdvisor



The man I married and I found a seat at the back of the cave. We settled down and watched him share his passion.

And when he had enough,  he just walked out like it was no big deal.

If you asked me to speak, spontaneously to 4 or 5 groups of young kids for an hour I would be beside myself, worrying that I wasn't enough, that my knowledge wasn't enough.
My boy, my sweet boy just knew he was
ENOUGH

And he was.

He still is. 

Happy 19th birthday J-man
xxx