A
childhood misconception is characterized by any thought or
outlook on
reality that made sense at the time, but now that you are
older, such obviously false ideas seem almost silly in
retrospect. I love looking at what people used to think as a
child. What certain things were, or bits of information and leaps of 5-year-old logic you made to form a totally wrong idea. I have few that I am proud to be
ashamed of:
The Jet Stream: What is it? Well my mom told me once that the Jet Stream was the stuff that came out the back of an
airplane in flight. (I used to love airplanes.) This is true. However, when you watch the
weather on the
news, they talk about where the Jet Stream is going to be in the day. So, in my youthful
brain, I watched the weather every day to see where the planes would be flying; in what pattern would they be travelling? "Oh look, the Jet Stream is right above us today! Yay!" At the time it seemed like an odd
combination, but I overlooked that to come up with what was a shining
revelation in my young life.
What would happen if i held it too long: Now, writing this, keep in mind that i was once a
five year old guy. And i didn't exactly know how all of the
mechnics worked down there. I was always afraid that
the boys would blow up if i held it too long. This was made by a series of locial jumps with statements like "Well it has to come from somewhere!". That one i lost faith in quite quickly, thank goodness.
Bread is made of well cooked dirt: This had to do with the number one use of
bread being to make a
Sand-which. Keep in mind, where i used to live, there was a lot of
sandy dirt. When i was young, there had to be a reason for that. Too close of a conincidence.
Batteries would recharge if you gave them a rest: I remember thinking this for some time when i was young. "Oh, i'll give this one a rest. It's tired." And then i'd go to where all the batteries were kept and get two new ones. I remember being sad whenever my mom told me that a battery was "dead". "Well if i don't kill them, they will get better." This must have infuriated my parents no end to find all sorts of drained batteries. Sorry!
Childhood misconceptions and the
learning experiences and processes behind
growing up shape us a lot. I think I learned more from making
mistakes than anywhere in
school; perhaps everyone does. We all need to make sense of this crazy
chaotic world, somehow....and it starts when we are
young.