Natural Learning

We went to see Wall-E...it was fun, well not really for Tombliboo (22 months) - but the rest of us enjoyed it.

At one point, he and EVA were floating in space, and J-Man (9) asked, "What is that Mum? Is it a vortex?" (Eeek, I have no idea!)

I had no idea...then Princess (6) said, "No it's a galaxy- the Milky Way, I think."

But how did she know? I am reasonably certain I have never even mentioned it (feeling suddenly like there are a million things I haven't mentioned and should have).

"How did you know that, Honey?"

"I know lots of things...some things I don't remember learning- I don't know how I know them", she told me, "Some things I have always known, because I am 6 now and 6 is very clever...and some things I learn from movies.

J-Man and I had a long discussion about the world now and in the future, peak oil and the depletion of fossil fuels. He doesn't normally want to discuss it, and his solution to the problems the world faces wasn't one I had considered (buy swords!). I wonder if Disney and Pixar meant to introduce children to important facts aout our future. J-Man thinks not, that it was just a new spin purely for the sake of making money. I doubt it somehow.

Maybe it was all a bit far-fetched (just a little, lol) but the basic idea- that we are not looking after the planet, that we are filling it up with garbage, and one day there will be no room left for people (and they will therefore need to leave Earth in a space ship) isn't too far off the mark.

After all, it's the children of today that will probably find the answers we need...and a movie is such a cool/pain-free way to get a glimpse of some important concept.