Lately, my son Takeh has been excited to see picture books and videos about dinosaurs. He exclaims, “They’re so big!” and when he sees CG images of small animals being hunted by large predators, he mumbles, “Scary…” As a parent, I am amazed that he has developed the concept of “scary” in his mind. As a parent, I am surprised that he has developed the concept of “scary. However, I think it is probably a more vague and keyword-like “scary” that is different from the “scary” that adults feel.
Takeh, my one-year-old boy, you don’t know anything about true fear yet.
You may be crawling around the house on all fours saying, “Doshin, doshin.
So when there was an event with life-size dinosaur models on display, I took him there.
”You get to meet the dinosaurs today.”
”Oooh.”
But when the dinosaur model appeared in front of us, Takeh gave me a subtle look.
”Look,” I said, “look, here are the dinosaurs.”
He was unresponsive.
”Look, here’s a dinosaur.The real one is this big.It’s 60 feet high!”
I knew he wasn’t very interested.
In the end, he showed little interest and went to the corner where the N-scale model trains were on display. As a parent who had gone to the trouble of bringing him here, I was disappointed.
Perhaps he thought the size was too different from what he expected and thought, “This is not it. For his part, he probably thought it was about the size of a stuffed panda he bought at IKEA that he usually takes around the house.
With a one-year-old, if he thinks, “That’s not it,” he’ll lose interest right away. But in a little while, he will ask, “It’s not that one, but what is it?” I look forward to that day. I look forward to that day.
(2023.01.29)
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