No, I can assure you, there wasn’t a script anywhere in sight. We didn’t rehearse and I didn’t coach him at all. He had no warning and no idea what I’d ask him in the interview. AJ’s just a bright little boy who’s going to put his daddy to shame in the IQ dept.

He clearly gets his smarts from mommy. And since you know all three of us, you can probably affirm that without doubt!

While I am clearly proud of my boy (and my little girl who is just as smart and funny as AJ), being bright is also a sort of curse. Bright people tend to be less happy than others, according to recent research I’ve seen. Bright people struggle with pride and arrogance (the “It’s hard to soar with the eagles when you’re stuck with turkeys like these” principle). Bright people are not always as successful in life as others not so profoundly gifted.

In other words, while parents are happy to have bright kids because, I don’t know maybe they feel somehow responsible for it, intelligence is not a predictor of happiness, joy, success, love or anything.

The one thing I do know: I cannot take credit. AJ’s and Ellie’s gifts are straight from God. I just hope I can help him with the wisdom and love he needs before he’s all growed up. And then some.

Rich
BlogRodent

PS: Hope we can hook up again. I think AJ’d like spending more time with uncle John!

Of course, I had eyes only for AJ, but it did seem suspicous to me that when I finally grokked what was going on, he seemed to be the only kid completely distracted by his dad.

Of course, it could have been my casual Hawaiian shirt I was wearing, or it could have been that I’m over six feet tall and outweighed every parent there by ten stone or more. Or maybe it’s because I’m just a cool dad. After all, I doubt anybody else there planned to interview their kids later that night for publishing on the World Wide Web. How cool is that?

@Jim:

You Kentuckians sure sound like a partyin’ lot. Of course, that’s probably only to be expected from the state that gave us Loretta Lynn, bourbon, bluegrass, horseraces and the memorable state slogan, “Unbridled Spirit.”

I hate that time flies so. Every year I wish I could preserve my kids and just hug ‘em at that age forever. But I know that the next year will just bring more joy — and frustration. But the joys are all the sweeter for the frustration.

I’m just very happy that, so far, AJ still lets me hug and kiss on him without embarrassment. And I love the fact that when I sit down to watch a little Dirty Jobs on Discovery, they both want to use me as their personal recliner.

That’ll get tough when AJ’s sixteen. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Rich
BlogRodent

Note to self: Next time, withhold cans of pop before interviewing AJ.

Rich
BlogRodent

“Wherever I went with my camera, his eyes followed me.”

My niece (who I helped raised) did the same thing at her Elementary School graduation. I was turning up the sides of my mouth in a smile with my two fingers like some kind of stage Dad,”Smile more!” Smile more!”

A website I found that I think you would get a kick out of is called offsprung.com, awesome stuff.

Franc

Where were you a Chi Alpha director? My involvement in the Chi Alpha at Penn State was a tremendous experience for me filled with nothing but great memories (thank you Stephen Michaels and Rex Bornman!).