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Calvin and the power of 0.01
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___Calvin is making smart alecks out of our boys. Not Calvin the theologian, but Calvin the comic-strip character.
___ Luke and Garrett recently discovered the cache of Calvin & Hobbes books Alison had stashed away, and they've been devouring them. In fact, I suspect both boys have read each of the books five or six times by now.
___ I never would have guessed that 8
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MARK WINGFIELD
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-year-olds would appreciate Calvin & Hobbes, much less understand it. But, boy, was I wrong.
___ In fact, reading these sophisticated comic books seems to have expanded their vocabularies. The other night, Luke was working on his spelling for school, and he had to come up with an antonym, or opposite word, for each of his spelling words. When he couldn’t think of an antonym for "ordinance," I thought I'd really teach him a big word, so I suggested "anarchy." And, I smugly added, "you'll need to go get the dictionary and look up the meaning."
___ "Oh, I know that word!" he quickly exclaimed. "Calvin talks all the time about anarchists!"
___ And then he proceeded to recount for me, frame by frame, several Calvin & Hobbes comic strips employing the word "anarchist."
___ I now know why Luke especially resonates so well with this comic strip--he is Calvin in the flesh. And, yes, this is a scary thing.
___ This devilish influence came shining through a couple of weeks ago at piano lessons. I had taken Luke to Karen Austin's home for the lesson that day and was sitting at the back of the room listening.
___ Luke was not doing well at this lesson, and finally Karen stopped him and asked, "Now, Luke, why do you suppose you keep doing this wrong?"
___ Without missing a beat, he looked up at her with that precocious Calvin-like grin and exclaimed half in question, half in declaration: "Bad genetic material?"
Mark Wingfield is managing editor of the Standard. Alison Wingfield is a freelance writer. The Wingfields moved to Texas from Louisville, Ky., where Mark had been editor of the Western Recorder, in which this column appeared weekly.
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______As much as I enjoyed the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip (and yes, I collected most of the books), my fear always was that one or both of the boys would prove to be a Calvin. My fears were well founded.
___ Our highly imaginative son Luke is full of stink. Like Calvin, he loves to create worlds with his toys, primarily Legos, and adds lots of imag
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ALISON WINGFIELD
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inative weaponry to go with them. He doesn'thave a sidekick like Hobbes the tiger, but Garrett suffices most of the time.
___ Girl-hating is one of the new favorite pastimes for both our boys. Calvin loved to hate Susie, and the boys have their own nemesis', whose names seem to come up frequently in conversation. I listen attentively for certain names, because I know that one day these girls that the boys supposedly loathe will be the same ones the boys will have crushes on. It pays to be quiet and listen when you're the chauffeur of the day. Carpooling is a great way to find out what's going on in your kids' lives.
___ Back to our little Calvin-like child. We've known for a long time that of the two boys, Luke would be our challenge. He illustrated this beautifully the other day. The boys were working with Mark on "I love teamwork" (which I hate), a math assignment we work together on as a family. The project involved making paper triangles of different colors into a quilt. Garrett was making simple one-color designs, while Luke was making complex, intricate designs for each triangle. Mark pointed out that it would be easier if he made simple designs, because he was going to have to copy them onto a worksheet.
___ Luke was quick to retort: "I'm not a simple person, Daddy."
___ And he was so right.
___ God has made each of us complex individuals--some more so than others. It is amazing to read the new research out of the Human Genome Project, where they've discovered that all humans share 99.9 percent of the same genes. It's only in 0.01 percent that our differences show up.
___ And in some cases, like Luke's, it's easy to see how big a difference that fraction can make. Thank God for the power of 0.01.
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