I have some anecdotal evidence.
My grandson is 8, and has recently joined the Boy Scouts. He just announced an interest in ‘going hunting’ to his mom. Mom, not being dumb temporized with ‘you can go with GruntDoc when you’re 10, but the first thing you’ll do is a snipe hunt’.
Those of you who know what that is are already smiling (those who are puzzled can ask someone or read on). Grandson is nothing if not a problem solver, so he asked his teacher what a snipe hunt was. Teacher replied ‘I don’t know’, which wasn’t the answer he was looking for. (Teachers are smart, too).
He called me to ask, and I told him it was a hunting ritual to a) catch the elusive snipe and b) show your hunting partners you had the skill and stamina to be a hunter. I appear to not be as reassuring and educational as I thought.
The other day his mom called and related that he’d gotten up extra early, started up their computer, and looked up ‘snipe hunt’ on Wikipedia. Cat’s out of the bag, but wait: he has been going through his stuffed toys to find one to use to fool me, to prank me for planning to prank him on a snipe hunt.
Kids are getting smarter. Really.
(Yes, he occasionally reads this blog. His mom has changed her startup page away from this one in order to tell this without him seeing it. We hope. But, he is pretty smart.)
It is quite amazing. Before we would have to take our parents and grand parents at their word. Now with a couple of key strokes we can find out anything we need to know.
Wow, I gotta Boy Scout Post comin up on my own blog tomorrow. Brings back memories, Scouts in North Dakota didn’t go for intellectual pranks like “Snipe Hunts” or “Go Find the Striped Paint”, they were more into “Stuff the Atomic Balm Drenched Jock Strap in the Victims Mouth”. Summer Camp was great, comin home with more ticks than Howdy Doody had freckles. GOOD TIMES!!
Maybe they are getting a little too smart ;)