I have an eleven-year old daughter in sixth grade and she is a voracious reader. She loves challenging math problems and brain teasers. Three months ago she taught herself how to create three-dimensional works of art on her computer. And, she tinkers, loves taking things apart, using components from this and motors from that to rig a desk fan or book light.
Last week, her older sister's light switch was rendered inoperable. So we had our electrician friend replace it, but Little Sis would not allow the old switch to be trashed. She took it apart and knew that one day it might operate a gizmo that might make her life easier.
My eleven-year old didn't always have the most self-confidence. She wanted to be accepted by her peers and sometimes she just wasn't. She wasn't always very confident with who she was, and might even try to hide parts of her true nature from her peers.
Earlier this week, she dragged me and her mom to her school at 7:30 pm to examine stars with high-powered mini-telescopes. She's a part of the Future Scientists club at her school, and this night was a culminating activity. I heard kids talking about Pleiades, novae, Orion's Belt, Cygnus X, and Jupiter's moons. It took me about half an hour to realize that my daughter was the only girl there looking at the sky... and she was fine with it.
She tells me that she's a self-proclaimed geek. The reasons: all of her reading, math, science, technology and inventions. And, I am so proud of her, not so much because of all she does, and not because she is a geek. I'm proud of her because she is now okay calling herself a geek. She has embraced the person she always was. And, as a result, she's not so concerned about what others think. Because of that, she now is accepted by her peers more than ever.
I don't know how many parents have to deal with a child who struggles with others and themselves, but my wife and I were fortunate to have championed who she has always been and not try to change into anything different. It took time but when she began to accept her "geekiness", others did as well.
She's a cute young lady, plays basketball, loves to sing, but she's also a geek. She now loves that about her, as do I.
photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/chrisgramly
Last week, her older sister's light switch was rendered inoperable. So we had our electrician friend replace it, but Little Sis would not allow the old switch to be trashed. She took it apart and knew that one day it might operate a gizmo that might make her life easier.
My eleven-year old didn't always have the most self-confidence. She wanted to be accepted by her peers and sometimes she just wasn't. She wasn't always very confident with who she was, and might even try to hide parts of her true nature from her peers.
Earlier this week, she dragged me and her mom to her school at 7:30 pm to examine stars with high-powered mini-telescopes. She's a part of the Future Scientists club at her school, and this night was a culminating activity. I heard kids talking about Pleiades, novae, Orion's Belt, Cygnus X, and Jupiter's moons. It took me about half an hour to realize that my daughter was the only girl there looking at the sky... and she was fine with it.
She tells me that she's a self-proclaimed geek. The reasons: all of her reading, math, science, technology and inventions. And, I am so proud of her, not so much because of all she does, and not because she is a geek. I'm proud of her because she is now okay calling herself a geek. She has embraced the person she always was. And, as a result, she's not so concerned about what others think. Because of that, she now is accepted by her peers more than ever.
I don't know how many parents have to deal with a child who struggles with others and themselves, but my wife and I were fortunate to have championed who she has always been and not try to change into anything different. It took time but when she began to accept her "geekiness", others did as well.
She's a cute young lady, plays basketball, loves to sing, but she's also a geek. She now loves that about her, as do I.
photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/chrisgramly
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