We have grown up listening to bedtime stores whether it was a fairytale or a cat mouse story. Parents always read story books to their kids with the hope it will put them to sleep faster. We always follow the traditional method because it’s the easiest and the most dependable one.
But this mother’s who feared science changed the concept entirely. She realised in her school years that science as a subject was not really taught, it was just told and talked about. Which is why the interest didn’t last long.Later when Wendy Thomas had a baby girl, she decided to find a way to keep her daughter interested in Science. And she did!
She married a guy who possesses a lifelong fascination with and appreciation for science. Of course we are not all lucky to find this guy. But we can hopefully learn the tricks he did.
From an early age, he began telling his young daughter about science. And he wouldn’t just talk about it. He would tell her a story related to the subject whether it was about the elements, planets, insects or the human body.Sometimes he would share something he read in the morning newspaper or heard on the radio.
One night, he took a tree-stump cutting in his hand and went to his daughter’s room. Using the stump, he went on to explain how each ring signifies each year of a tree’s life. He then shared a story about how a climatologist cut down a tree for research — only to find that the tree was 4,400 years old. “That’s 4,400 rings,â€_x009d_ he said to his daughter. “Not only was it the oldest tree in the world, it was the oldest living thing.â€_x009d_ He told her that no other continuously living organism had come close to living as long as that tree had lived. The climatologist, heartsick and haunted by his own mistake, never cut down another tree as long as he lived.
A small story like this moved me and am sure it had riveted effect on my daughter as well, says Wendy. With over 2 years of science storytelling Wendy does see the love for science in my daughter. The years of sharing these stories by her father instilled the love and curiosity for a much hated subject.
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