Keeping up with a first grader

Image from : en.wikipedia.org
 

They say that a human's brain has about 100 billion brain cells -- enough for a person to live 120 years and still have enough neurons left even if 1 million of those cells die everyday.  They also say that too much stress can cause the neurons to die. Now, I don't know what kind of stress actually kills a person's brain cells but I do know the mine are rapidly decreasing for each time that I have a 30 minute conversation with my 6 year old son, Kyle.

I'm not saying Kyle is difficult to speak with. On the contrary, he's very smart and he's got a talking speed of a Formula One racing speed car (18,000 rpm). This leads me to the reasons why my brain cells are at an alarming decline over prolonged conversations with him (Note that anything more than 10 minutes is considered prolonged conversations). 

You see, Kyle is now on his first grade so he gets to learn a lot of new things. That is great, absolutely and definitely great -- except when he talks about them and he expects me to actually know what he is talking about. I might have a vague idea about a few topics he has discussed over time but the last time I encountered Pang-uri, Pangngalan, Pambalana, Angles, Addends, Multiplicand, etc. was 20 lbs. and 3 babies ago so I'm bound to be rusty here and there. If that wasn't bad enough, he now started talking about caudal fin, pectoral fin, and dorsal fin -- things that I would never in a million years expect to hear from a six year old.  On top of that, we had to scout the neighborhood today for different kinds of leaves according to their margin. The problem was, I didn't know what leaf margins are. I also didn't know that leaves are classified according to their margin let alone know how each kind looks like! Good thing my friends Google and Wiki are around. I'd be close to having panic attacks without them. Really, they're proving to be more of a life saver these days.

I remember when I used to wish Kyle's classes would start soon so there would be some peace and quiet around the house. Little did I know that Kyle starting school was like me being back to first grade but so much more challenging. We wake up at 5 am, eat a less palatable breakfast as our appetites are still drowsy from sleep, and study lessons that are bound to be forgotten come vacation time. The only difference is, I don't strive for the golden star at the end of each class anymore -- I help my son strive for his own golden star and it is so much more rewarding.