And all of a sudden I was talking to a 12 year old

Tweet

My nephew is 8, still a little kid, couldn't possibly understand anything. I avoided watching things like lectures and documentaries around him because I figured he wouldn't be interested. I was trying to get him to go to sleep, and nothing was working then I put on Bob Ross. All of a sudden he couldn't get his eyes off the screen. At first when he was pointing things out and his adorable voice made every observation just another cute thing he said. He was looking at some lines Bob painted and said "yep, that's definitely a tree" and at first I was like "that's so cute he noticed the tree" and said "good job Riley" like id say to a 5 year old who pointed to an actual tree and said "it's a tree" but as we kept watching it noticed he was not just watching, he was paying attention. I kept his interest going by discussing the same things, and how we were both so in awe of his ability to paint things. Even though he still had an adorable little voice I forgot he was a little kid and talked to him the way I would talk to a twelve year old. I didn't stop to point something out and explain it. When I talk to much older kids I don't talk to them at the same level. They have a better attention span, and can grasp more complex ideas. I didn't try to dumb it down. We were on the same wavelength. Yes, he noticed a tree, but it wouldn't be as obvious to a little kid. I've always believed he was smart, but he was focused and grasping information. I was talking to him like he knew what he was saying, because he did.