Conversations with my 11-year old
Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Sun, 25 Mar 2007 04:26:00 GMT
11 is really a great age. Not yet a teenager. Not a kid any longer. There is something really refreshing about an 11-year old mind. It’s not jaded, it asks real questions.
This morning my daughter told me she hated daylight savings time. Quite surprised, I asked her why? She told me that when her mom tells her to go to bed, it is still light outside. A valid point. I remember when I was her age, I grew up in an area when it didn’t’ get dark until close to 10:00 PM and I felt the same resentment.
She asked me why we had daylight savings time. I told her that it was supposed to save energy, since it is light longer in the evening so we don’t have to turn on the lights.
She said, but don’t we have to turn the lights on when we get up in the morning?
True, we didn’t have to turn on the lights in the morning before; it was light when we got up, so it probably doesn’t save much energy.
Then I asked her if she knew who invented daylight savings time. Of course, she said, everyone knows that Benjamin Franklin invented daylight savings time.
Well, I said, maybe the invented daylight savings time so you can play outside longer in the summer.
Dad, she said, they didn’t play when Benjamin Franklin was alive.
