Sunday, July 15, 2012

Monster Boy is learning to Blog

So yesterday I saw Monster Boy and told him about blogging.  How I enjoyed writing a blog and didn't care if anyone read it.  Which is a little cynical because we all like to be popular and there's a hope in the back of my mind that people do actually read what I write and they like it.  But I've only got three persons who follow my blog.  So It could be it's not actually working out at all.  So, i says to Monster Boy blogging is about writing for yourself and not caring.  It's a stream of thoughts the reason you do it is because you want to and enjoy doing it.  He got a little bit interested.  At which point I advised him about the use of pseudonyms and never talking about anyone by their real names, ever.  Also I told him about places, because he should not identify where he is but he can make up a fictional name about it.  Saying London is fine because there's six million plus people who live here.  Monster sat down and asked me to help him go through a few bits on how to find a site to blog and getting started up.  I had to leave abruptly at this point but I knew he is a smart kid and would be able to follow instructions on the web site he used.  It's not rocket science, just some people think it is and put up barriers, psychological barriers to suggest they are incapable because of the fear of failure or rather fear of success.  It's easier to be self deferential in a down beat way.  It's part of the UK national psych.  Except those not from the UK probably don't see it as such.  Today I saw Monster Boy for a brief moment to see what he had done.

He is crazy about Star Trek, Doctor Who and anything Sci Fi.  His life evolves around it and comic book characters.  He knows everything and loves to share this information with everyone to prove he knows it.  He even goes onto Wiki encyclopedia and there he updates facts when he find they are wrong and adds extra bits.  All of this for a kid who is only just 12 years old.  Monster pulled up his site for me to peruse.  It was very good.  He created a photo montage of scenes from Star Trek as his background.  Gave himself a Trek related name and posted one item on it.  He then showed me how many hits he had.  I was amazed that one just put up brand new site had 40 hits already.  I'm lucky to get 10 in a day but he had a multiple of this.  His blog was just a pre amble about how he wanted people to read it and enjoy.  There was on this occasion no real text about Star Trek.   But this is the start.  What a wonderful first effort it was.  I was amazed and told him it was good.  I'm hoping he will continue with it because it is not just about being a Sci Fi fan it is also about improving his spelling, writing skills and communication skills to the rest of the world.  Without realising it this could be a better teaching tool than sitting in a class listening to what a teacher has to say.  As they say, learning should be made fun which is something a lot of educators have forgotten about.  If only work was fun as well I say.

Monster would love to go to the American convention called comic-con, just as he is because he thinks he would be able to challenge a lot of Trekkies with his knowledge.  He thinks they would be impressed by him.  I advised he did know a lot but the Trekkies also knew a lot and what he needed to do was to start saving up for the ticket.  Unfortunately he wanted to go now to show his knowledge off and then got disheartened because by the time he had saved up he said he would of grown up into a bigger boy or man and they would not be so impressed with what he had to say.  Personally i am always impressed with what he has to say. Of all the things Monster Boy has, it is an opinion, and he has many of these opinion.  In an aside, during one of my beating up Monster Boy with a tickle I said as I had other nephews I could chop up Monster Boy and put him into pies.  It wouldn't matter because he was one of a few others.  However, I also said it would probably be a bad idea because as soon as someone went to bite into the pie it would argue with them.  Monster found this very funny and laughed at the thought of an argumentative pie.  If Monster had another pastime it would be debating and arguing, which he does with anyone, as though he is not 12 but rather 42 and knew everything there is to know in the world.  He certainly has a lot to learn, because the more you learn the more you realise you don't know so much after all.  I hope he enjoys going on to secondary school and then takes on the world.  Probably dressed up in a Trekkie uniform and a pair of pointed ears.

No comments: