Take for example this set of cars I got in the early learning centre, 3 cars, different colours and different types of car.. all with googly eyes that make them look cute... who can resist a googly eye, eh? Not me, that's for sure...
But these cars aren't just your average toy car.. these ones have magnets.. So we have nice size - not too big or too small, no sharp bits to hurt bare feet, kinda cute, NO BUTTONS and it's a bit educational - with the magnets & all that...2 per car, one @ each end on little 'tails' so that when you put the cars lined up front to back they link together in a chain and form a train... So most of us have heard opposites attract and that's how the magnet works... North to south stick together. North to north repel each other & blah-de-blah-blah... (Well this is the basics of magnet trickery that you learn in skool, not sure when but it got shoved in there at some stage... )
My son is just about to turn two and he LOVES these lil cars lately... but it's a rocky relationship. Everything is fine and dandy when they do what he wants... in other words when he's using them correctly... Unfortunately, as most kids do.. he likes to shake things up and think outta the box... I can see it in his face, he's thinkin why should he line them up the right way round (front to back) when he can put them back to back or face to face... (usually face to face though.. which is better cos the other way is just like a pair of courting dogs after the deed is done and they're left there lookin all embarrassed.. and well..stuck)
What he doesn't know though is that he can't make that work. Why? Well, cos physics says so.. that's why.. They won't stick together... the little tail thingys just wriggle away from each other... First, he starts off holding them in mid air, slowly trying to get them to connect (slowly because he hasn't lost his patience yet... cos you know the way 2yr olds have loads of that stuff)... I admire the look of determination and the concentration on his face is hilarious, frowning eyebrows and pouted lips... he looks like he's carrying out open heart surgery..
I've tried to intervene @ this stage to make sure the iddy biddy bit of patience he has doesn't disintegrate entirely. I've tried putting them the right way & saying 'Look it works! wow!' and drive em around a bit.. then putting them the wrong way 'oops not sticking :( silly mommy '... but it seems that to try & explain how magnets work to a 2yr old is as impossible as the quest he is setting out for himself and so he persists...i keep my distance... which is basically outside of the toy flying radius (TFR) - this is also based on physics... Here's my formula :
size + weight + aerodynamic anatomy of toy
Temper level of child = TFR
Anyway, next they're placed on the floor... He needs free hands for this cos now he is goin right to the point and catchin the 'tails' to try and connect em that way but of course they just swivel around like there's a little invisible marble between them... There's a grunt.
Basically that's the signal letting you know that patience levels are eating into the reserves... Only thing is, the indicator needle is broken on my lil fella's reader and that signal is already way too late. Reserves are gone and he's runnin on fumes.. the cars are being bashed off one another as hard and as fast as his little arms can go... *SMASH!! BANG!! WALLOP!!!* he's roarin and screamin like a banshee....Next thing - OUCH!!!!! As usual, I always underestimate how far he can throw things... that's my formula out the window.
Guess he gets his understanding of phyics from me then... and i'm off to bed now, Goodnight ^_^
Fa lala lala lala follow the red drip road