Dane is studying the Far East in History and Geography. Yesterday, after school, he was looking over his work in preparation for a test later this week. I heard him rattling off facts about China and the Philipines.
"Thailand . . ." I heard him say. Then, ". . . was part of China . . . Mom, did the Chinese want us to give them back King Kong?"
"King Kong belongs to the Japanese. I believe you mean Hong Kong, son."
"Oh, yeah. That's what I meant."
I looked across the table at Deanna. She had a smile on her face and was trying to keep from laughing. However, truth be told, she's just as bad.
Like this weekend. We were at the Air Show and had been watching different types of aircraft pass in front of us for a couple of hours. Then the M.C. announced the next act. It was an 11-yr. old boy who had built his own Radio Controlled plane and holds the world title in R.C. Aerobatics (aerobatics was a new term for me, but was used very widely at the Air Show; apparently, they have their own vernacular which was unfamiliar to me). He was demonstrating all kinds of flips and turns and flying his plane in front of the fans, the same as the real aircraft. I suppose this was supposed to be impressive but, truthfully, the real planes were so amazingly impressive that a radio-controlled one didn't quite compare in my eyes.
I was a little bored and began looking around the crowd. I turned to my right and saw Deanna, camera poised in mid-air, waiting for the perfect shot.
"What ya doin', honey?" I asked.
"I'm all ready, Mom. As soon as the plane flies closer, I'm going to get a picture of the guy in the cockpit!"
As funny as that was, I kind of understood. Lots of the other planes looked the same size as this one as they flew in the distance. There wasn't REALLY any noticeable difference in size. And, if you didn't quite understand the concept of radio controlled (or remote controlled), I can see how you could get confused.
Of course, I got a lot of mileage with that. I kidded Deanna about the little, bitty man who flew in the cockpit. Later, as we were walking back to Camp, an SUV passed us carrying the R.C. plane. It's nose was sandwiched between the two front seats.
"There goes your plane, honey," I told Deanna. "And the little man was sitting on the dashboard."
"MOM!" she yelled at me.
While studying after school with the children yesterday (during the King Kong Hour), I quoted a line from "Toy Story" to Dane. The boy in the movie who owns all the toys gets a Buzz Lightyear of Star Command toy for his birthday to add to his collection in his room. His favorite toy, Woody (a cowboy) is trying to convince the newest addition, Buzz, that's he's a toy. Buzz believes he's a real spaceman and he's landed on an alien planet. Woody explains over and over again and finally, in exasperation, yells,
"You're not REAL. You're a child's play thing." (Or something to that effect - the kids would know the exact line, of course.)
Buzz responds with, "You're a sad, silly little man."
So, after explaining King Kong to my son, I added, " 'You're a sad, silly little man.' " Then, my mind immediately moved to Deanna's predicament with the plane.
"Hey, Deanna," I kidded, "maybe Buzz Lightyear could fly your Radio Controlled plane for you!"
"Mom," she looked at me over the top of her glasses - her most serious look, "Buzz Lightyear is a real human."
As she watched my face contort, gleefully imagining all the mileage I could get from this newest faux pas, she hung her head.
"I did it again, didn't I?" she asked.
Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus.
Interestingly, later she told me that she had told a friend at school about the incident with the plane. She explained that she knew there was someone on the ground controlling the plane but she also thought there was a pilot who could override the R.C. controls in an emergency. Her friend admitted that she had thought the same exact thing last year when she attended the Air Show.
My question is this - what are they teaching our kids in school?
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