Conversation as we know it

For the last few days I have been off the netwaves because a flood in a BT exchange knocked off our internet.

It's amazing what happens.

We talk more. We all talk more. To each other.

Y and I discussed the shortcomings of Dr. Who and, why oh why, don't they get to interesting other planets but seem to end up in London or Cardiff each episode. She read a Dr. Who book and was seriously absorbed. We talked of many things after that... cabbages and kings...

E and I went over her second marked assignment for her Open University Law course (she got a high A on this and on the first assignment, and the tutor said some very complimentary things about her writing style).

We all hung out together. We did housework, and we talked about the changes we are making to our world and those we wish to make. Y scraped walls because the painter and decorator is in next week, and we spoke about religion (well, it is Easter). She went with me to my mother's who was in a questioning mood about 'where we go when we die' and 'what is the soul and where is it?'

The girls played some games, learning Chinese history from those games during their fun breaks. They stopped for more chats.

It's called 'purposive conversation' - the art of talking, well respected in our society. We reward everyone who can talk - even if they don't do it that effectively. This is a deeper kind of talking, though, it develops your thought processes, it extends your knowledge, it deepens your feeling for others and helps you to see 'where they are coming from'.

"... research that shows that high achieving 'genius' children have a background of both individualised attention and purposive conversational learning, which are found to be major factors in their accelerated intellectual development."

http://edheretics.gn.apc.org/EHT010.htm

Not that I particularly want to have given birth to genius children, but I get a warm feeling when I realise that I am doing my best for my young while talking to them. And enjoying myself too because they are really interesting people and I learn a lot from them.

Do you think it's too late for me to turn into a high achieving genius?

A topic for another discussion perhaps.