MSI Press Blog

  Shane reads, really reads. He started reading at the age of 23 months. He was barely talking at the time, and he was not yet walking. I figured he was just a little slower getting around to things, but it turns out he had set a different priority to things. One day, I was working with Noelle with flashcards, using them to make sentences, trying to visually get her to understand how language works -- and reading is a big part of that. She struggled, and so I put the flashcards away and said we would try again in a few months.  Shane crawled over and said, "Read." It was his first word after he uttered "oh-oh" when he broke his arm at 6 months in an unexpected tumble. Not Mama, not Dada. But "read." I told him sure, when he got a little bigger, we could play with the flashcards.  "Read now," he responded. Wow, he knew another word! But he had never said any of the words on the flashcards. I laid them out for him; there were a dozen. Mommy, Daddy,...

On Donnie's bucket list since he was a child was hiking the entire length of the AT. Those who did so were called thru-hikers. Donnie aimed one day to be a thru-hiker. One day came after moving to Washington DC, where I had just landed a new job and Donnie was between jobs, Perfect time to hike the trail.  Shane at the time was ten, four years ahead in school, healthy, and strong. He had had a tentative relationships with Donnie, mainly bcause Donnie was big, strong, and imposing, with a bushy beard and deep voice. But, yes, he wanted to hike the trail with his Dad. The school agreed to let him have the time off (six months was the typical hiking time) since he was so far ahead and they did not know what to do with him, anyway. Thanks to his forestry training and days working for the US Forest Service, Donnie knew all the forest lore needed for a safe trip. He also knew what supplies were needed for a comfortable trip. So, off went father and son to the local version of LL Bean and...

  At as early an age as I can remember, Shane had a heightened sense of fairness. And, if something was not fair (in his mind, at least), nothing could persuade him to accept it. As he grew into adulthood and took on supervisory positions, that sense of fairness blended with strong logic (which underlay his sense of fairness all along). Case in point: Grade 5. Recess In home room, Shane's teacher, Mrs. D, had trouble one morning quieting down one row of kids. It was the row that quiet, introverted Shane sat in. Finally, in exasperation, she told the class that the kids in Shane's row had to stay in at recess for punishment. Shane raised his hand, and the ensuing conversation went like this: Shane: That does not include me; I was not being noisy. Mrs. D.: It does include you; you are in that row. Shane: I do not accept your inclusion of me; I did not choose to be in this row; you put me here. Mrs. D.: Discussion over. The entire row stays in at recess. At recess, the row of kids...

  Their children's precocity can often disconcert parents. These children not only do unpredictable things, but the things they do are also often unimaginable to their parents--and how to deal with them perplexing. After all, when do you reward creativity and when do you punish it? Shane setting the house on fire with a science experiment clearly belonged in the latter category though one still wants to laud the creativity and scientific depth behind it. But what about when those unpredictable things go beyond the home? When Shane was 12, I picked up the phone--landlines back then and anyone could answer. The voice at the other end sounded like a man in his 30s, and it turned out in reality to be a man in his 30s.  "May I speak to Shane?" asked the voice. "Well, I don't know," I responded. "Shane is a 12-year-old boy." The voice hesitated, then said, "Ok, but I think I still need to talk to him." I put Shane on the line, and he immediatel...