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Hazards of Anthropomorphism
Aug. 23rd, 2009 11:55 pmIn children's picture books, the Moon says good night to friendly duck families, allows polite human daddies to bring it down to play with gregarious little girls, and accompanies adventurous boys on evening walks. To Gareth, the Moon is a person because his books have told him so.
Tonight, as we drove home from the big charity bike ride (Dan pedaled for 80 miles today, with some pretty serious hills), Gareth leaned around in his carseat to look through the windshield, and declared, "I want to meet the Moon!" (He pronounces it sort of like mune or perhaps myoon.) We thought this was just one of his curious moments, but it turned out to be a heartfelt desire, one that he was very upset to be denied. Just making a formal introduction verbally didn't do the trick. Pointing out that the Moon lives very far away was no help at all. The only way we could get him to fall asleep was to assure him that a few astronauts have gone to meet the Moon in person, though they had to wait until they were grown-ups to do it.
Tonight, as we drove home from the big charity bike ride (Dan pedaled for 80 miles today, with some pretty serious hills), Gareth leaned around in his carseat to look through the windshield, and declared, "I want to meet the Moon!" (He pronounces it sort of like mune or perhaps myoon.) We thought this was just one of his curious moments, but it turned out to be a heartfelt desire, one that he was very upset to be denied. Just making a formal introduction verbally didn't do the trick. Pointing out that the Moon lives very far away was no help at all. The only way we could get him to fall asleep was to assure him that a few astronauts have gone to meet the Moon in person, though they had to wait until they were grown-ups to do it.
