It was during a marathon long study session with my 11 year old niece on the weekend that memories of my own childhood school years reared its head. How funny it is to think back at some of the preconceived ideas I had as a child and the ridiculous conclusions I came up with. One of those was that because of my upbringing, I would never know about certain things. Crazy, right?.
I can still remember sitting in class in primary school and listening to the other kids discussing something known as Concorde (the now retired supersonic airplane). I had never heard about such a plane and could not really participate in the conversation. The way they spoke about it had me on the edge of my seat. Why had I not heard of this marvelous thing? How come I was the only one that didn’t know what it was? What was wrong with me?
I remember being a bit irritated at my parents for not having told me about it. But my anger was geared more towards the fact that I didn’t know. I felt so stupid. I still to this day remember thinking that I can’t blame my parents for not telling me. When the hell would they have found the time?
My parents were divorced and my mom worked a lot of overtime to make extra money so we hardly saw her. On the weekends when we saw my dad, we never engaged in such deep conversations. I just concluded that kids like me were never meant to know stuff like that. It wasn’t part of my world. I mean think about it. A fancy, super fast plane that traveled to places such as New York and Paris. The furthest we had ever been was the Kruger Park with the caravan. In fact my dad had never even been in a plane before in his life (still hasn’t to this day!).
I hope the message I conveyed to my niece on the weekend is a very different one. I hope as she writes her exams, she remembers all the wonderful facts we chatted about. All the amazing topics we discussed. I hope she remembers the awesome pictures we found on Google of the Augrabies Falls and of the Drakensberg mountains and the Zulu huts and the insects…
But above all, I hope she remains curious and eager to never stop asking questions. Because in today’s world, knowledge is free to everyone!
Keeping up with the Walkers... 
Bron what an awesome story. I remember that Concorde flew to SA and we saw it fly over – what wonderment!! But we could not actually go to the airport and see it.
I grew up in a small town away from the city. A big poor family but my parents were obsessed with education and knowledge so everywhere we went and everything we did was a lesson.
I thought I was driving the family nuts doing the same till the one trip when they asked “Mom where is your big book that tells us about all the towns”. So we still carry far too many books on holiday and yes Google all sorts of things.
I travelled overseas for the first time in my life when I was over forty. Thanks to business have done a lot of trips since then but still try and learn every time I go anywhere. And its amazing how much you still learn. Your niece is a lucky girl.
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Seeing the Concorde! That must’ve been awesome to see! I would’ve been so* jealous! 😉
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I remember the wonderment of hearing about the concorde as well, it was all so amazing and bigger than life.
I also remember finding things out at school that felt like everyone knew but me. I secretly blamed my parents to, and coincidentally they were also divorced.
Now you are right, information is free. It’s a whole new world out there for the younger generation 🙂
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Glad to know I wasn’t alone! 🙂
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There were many things I did know growing up in a small village. But that is part of life and the wonderful feeling of discovery we get, when finding new and amazing things.
I am nearly 40 and Disney last year blew my mind. Age of discovery!!!
Try learn something new everyday.
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To not lose my sense of wonderment whilst losing faith is a big struggle currently. I believe millions out there are experiencing it too. Your story gave me hope. Thx
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Thanks! 🙂 I must say though, reading your Twitter TL is all kinds of positive!
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Wrote a whole long comment and it disappeared 😦
What I said (more or less) was that I understand how you felt. I remember asking my Dad questions and being so bewildered by the fact that he seemed to know the answers to everything. I get so anxious thinking about the day when my boys start asking me questions that I could potentially not know the answer to. What do I say? Will they lose faith in me?
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Google it! LOL. Funny enough, I learnt things that I thought I knew. Insects have jointed legs! The radius is a bone in the arm. And the Augrabies Falls means ‘water that smokes’! Kids are exposed to so much info nowadays – there’s no way we can know it all! (but we won;t tell them!)
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I love this and I know how you felt. It makes me nervous to think of all of the questions that my boys could ask me one day. Will I know the answers? What if I don’t? Will they lose faith in me? I always remember asking my Dad questions and when he gave me an answer, I’d think, “Wow! How does he know so much?!”
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Your comment was there! I posted both because I loved ’em both! Thanks for reading!
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