Smarter than Dad

It is quite a strange feeling when you realize that your child is going to be smarter than you. I am pretty sure that is the case with T. I was a very slow starter and don't think I gave learning a second thought until probably around the time I returned from the Gulf War. For some reason spending a few months facing your possible mortality changes the way you see the world. I am not positive, but I think I made the dean's list every quarter after I returned from the gulf, and before that time I think I spent a lot of time on the list for the pool table down at Kelly's Bar. So, there had to have been some change.

I just never thought of myself as smart. That was my brother. He is smart. He seemed to spend a few minutes studying and the rest partying, but managed to come out of college at the top of his class. It just didn't come that easy for me, so I just assumed I wasn't smart enough, so why really try? Anyway, turns out I did OK after I realized that I needed to try.

When I watch T now, I just see things happening in his head. He thinks things out. He learns like a sponge, and it just amazes me. For example, we got him a computer because he watched us using ours and was so interested in it we couldn't keep his hands off of it. So now he has his own. Remember he is three years old. Here is a short conversation that could happen any morning.
T says he wants to watch Thomas the Tank Engine on his computer. I tell him," OK, go tun on your computer."
"OK Daddy." He pushes the power button. It lights up and the computer starts to load.
Since that computer got loaded with two different operating systems it has a screen that comes up asking you which OS to use, and T knows when that comes up it is on the right one so he just hits the enter key.
"It's loading Daddy."
"OK T you are doing a great job being patient."
The computer loads and his desktop appears. He waits a little while, but is still 3 and patients is sometimes over rated. He finds the Internet explorer icon on the desk top for the Thomas website, and clicks it. Nothing happens.
"Daddy, it didn't work."
"Put the mouse pointer in the center of it, and click two times fast."
Click, click. IE opens up and there is Thomas's website. He starts navigating around the site and goes to videos. He is a little impatient when he clicks things, so occasionally this will lock it up, especially videos. "Daddy, it's not working again." I look over and see where the video screen is black and not loading.
"Press the f-5 key." He looks over the keyboard to where he knows that key is. I can see his finger hover over f-9 for a second, but then moves over to f-5 because he sees the 5. He pushes it and waits for it to load. Thomas comes up, his video comes up and it starts playing. He turns to me, and smiles at his success, then goes back to watching.

I think to myself that, first of all computers were not in homes when I was 3, but even when I had my first computer class in high school I don't think I was much more computer literate than he is. If you think about it, just knowing how to move the mouse around, he can drag and drop things, click on things, double click things, close windows and I am not sure but I think I saw him buy something on Ebay. But seriously, that's a lot to know about using a computer. Not to mention that f-5 key refreshes the page. He does that now without asking me if something gets stuck. I showed him once and he has it already. He uses the paint program to draw lines and shapes and then uses the paint brush tool and ink fill tools to color them. He used to ask for help, but now he does fairly well with very little assistance. At this pace I think next year I am going to take the computer apart and show him the internal side and tell him what all the components do. I think he could rebuild a computer soon.

I know, I am probably your typical parent who thinks every time his child does anything he is a genius. And he may very well be totally normal in all abilities. I wouldn't mind that at all. It just shows I am a proud dad who just sees the very best in his son. Either way, I am fairly certain that what I see is a kid who definitely shows signs of being a lot smarter than his dad was at every age. With that said, it would only make sense that I would want to be an over bearing dad and try to encourage him to reach his potential. So, I tell him quite frequently that I think he should be a doctor so he can help people. If you are smart, you should use that talent to help people the best way you can. For a while he would say he is going to be a doctor. Dad was happy. Then one day dad introduced T to the chickens on the farm we run. That was way cooler than being a doctor that gave him a shot in the leg and made him cry. Since then he has wanted to go down to the farm when I go and check on stuff. He loves looking at the feed bins and as he has seen me do before, tap on the sides to see if they are full or empty. Even though his reach allows him only to tap on the clear plastic part that you can already see if there is food in it or not. He taps, listens and determines if it sounded empty or full and reports it to me. "That one is full."

Now when I say,"You are going to be a doctor, right? So you can help people." He says, "No, I am going to be a chicken farmer." He puts on his baseball cap, like daddy wears to work, adjusts it, and smiles at me. I feel proud that he wants to be like me, and hopeful that someday he learns he can be better than me.