The Fun Fact Kid-Revisited
Hello Gimme A Minute Readers,
My work life has been a bit hectic lately, and has caused me to miss some deadlines here at “Gimme A Minute.” My hope is to get back on track over the next couple of weeks. Until then, here is post from January 2023, “The Fun Fact Kid.” Important to note, Fun Fact kids often grow up to be Trivia Adults.
Have a great week.
When your kids are little, you spend lots of time trying to help them build their memory. You teach them sight words. You repeat people’s names over and over. You even play matching games totally based on memory. The goal is to help them build their memory to the point that they can go to school and participate in the world around them. With memory, as with everything, all kids are different. However, there are some kids who have an overdeveloped memory, and a mind focused on the trivial. These are the kids who spend most of their waking hours barraging you with a series of facts that you have not asked for. Does this sound familiar? Then, you may be dealing with a Fun Fact Kid. Here are three of the most common warning signs.
Rhetorical Questions Only- Do you want to know a fun fact? This is the only question the Fun Fact Kid asks, and there is no need to respond to it. The question is a rhetorical one. You are going to hear the “Fun Fact” regardless of your answer. The Fun Fact Kid is the Yin to the Relentless Questioner’s Yang. There is no desire on the part of the Fun Fact Kid to learn anything about you, your thoughts, or your opinion. You are not a participant in a conversation, you are a receptacle for their trivial knowledge. The Fun Fact Kid is trapped in an eternal, invisible one-person trivia tournament. You are not a fellow participant. You are an unwilling spectator. You do not get to hear the questions. You do not get to know the score. You just get to hear the factoids. Lucky you.
Fun Fact Kids are the World’s Most Thorough Researchers- Whatever is occupying their brain at the time is what you are going to be learning about. Fun Fact Kids are obsessive. They cannot just watch a movie and enjoy it. No, they have to research it. Where was that car chase scene filmed? Was that an Easter Egg? Who was the caterer on the 43rd day of shooting? There is no bit of information too minute or trivial for them, if they are focused on the topic. The only requirement for them is that the information must be shared with someone. The time and place of the sharing is irrelevant to the Fun Fact Kid. These Fun Facts are shared at random times disconnected from anything in the real world. And why not? After all, there is virtually no situation in which these Fun Facts could ever come up in a regular conversation.
These Powers Cannot Be Used for the Useful- Fun Fact kids possess tremendous powers of research, memory, and mental organization. They must be great students, right? No. Fun Fact Kids are physically incapable of using these powers for assigned work. Learn the periodic table for a Chemistry quiz? Ridiculous. Dedicate precious brain space to the canonical differences between the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures” manga and anime? Absolutely. No superpower goes unchecked. If the Fun Fact Kid were able to use these powers to learn useful information, it would be impossible to keep them from taking over the world. And, so nature does not allow for this to happen. Even Superman has kryptonite. As a parent, it is incredibly frustrating. You see what they should be capable of, and yet all they do is explain, in minute details, Sonic the Hedgehog’s origin story. This is not their fault, it is simply the limits of their powers.
Science tells us that there is really no changing the Fun Fact Kid. Through lots of patience, hard-work, and maturity, the Fun Fact Kid can learn to control their powers better. But, it can never be extinguished altogether. You have to help them develop positive outlets for their knowledge. However, it takes an incredible amount of time and effort to get this power under control. This will take a toll on you. Your already taxed memory will be pushed to the limits with facts that you neither needed nor wanted. But, you were subjected to them just the same. And, so while you will struggle to remember the date of your anniversary, you will always know that Nintendo actually started as a playing card company in 1889. And that truly is a Fun Fact.