Kevin's Watch

My son was singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" last night, and I realized that that song explained nothing. The poor singer is left wondering what a star is. So I wrote a new version for my son, and then sang it to him over and over last night. He's sticking with the original.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Hydrogen to Helium
Fusing slowly to be one.
Changing mass to heat and light,
Stars are suns we see at night.

Burning brightly, eons pass
Nucl'ar fires made to last.
But someday these too will go
Supernova? Maybe so.
Smaller stars die with more grace:
White dwarves strewn all o'er the place.

Educational and fun - what more could a child want?

nuk wrote:My son was singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" last night, and I realized that that song explained nothing. The poor singer is left wondering what a star is. So I wrote a new version for my son, and then sang it to him over and over last night. He's sticking with the original.

I can imagine.
This is how it would go in my house:

nuk wrote:Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Hydrogen to Helium

"Daddy, what's hydrogen?"
"It's tiny particles of matter that make up stars"
"Tiny?"
"Very small, we can't even see them."
"So how do you know that they are there?"
"Well, scientists know."

nuk wrote:Fusing slowly to be one.

"What's "fusing", Daddy?"
"It's when 2 pieces come together."
"So stars join together to make one star?"
"No, honey, all those hydrogen atoms that we just talked about are coming together."
"What's an atom?"
"It's the smallest something can get."
"Like an ant?"
"Yeah, like an ant."

nuk wrote:Changing mass to heat and light,
Stars are suns we see at night.

"Why can't we see stars during the day, Daddy?"
"Because the Sun is so bright."
"Oh...."
"Now let me finish."

nuk wrote:Burning brightly, eons pass
Nucl'ar fires made to last.
But someday these too will go
Supernova? Maybe so.

"Daddy"
"YES?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Just listen."

nuk wrote:Smaller stars die with more grace:
White dwarves strewn all o'er the place.

[Crying!] Mommy! Daddy's telling me scary stroies about dead dwarfs!"
"No wait...that's not what......"
"Dear! Tell her the story the right way!"
"Ok honey, what story do you want me to tell you?"
"How about "Hey diddle diddle?"
"Uh, sure......but you know that one was made up on PURPOSE not to make any sense."
"DADDY!"

Congratulations!

This thread has won the highly prestigious

High Lord Tolkien wrote:

nuk wrote:My son was singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" last night, and I realized that that song explained nothing. The poor singer is left wondering what a star is. So I wrote a new version for my son, and then sang it to him over and over last night. He's sticking with the original.

I can imagine.
This is how it would go in my house:

nuk wrote:Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Hydrogen to Helium

"Daddy, what's hydrogen?"
"It's tiny particles of matter that make up stars"
"Tiny?"
"Very small, we can't even see them."
"So how do you know that they are there?"
"Well, scientists know."

nuk wrote:Fusing slowly to be one.

"What's "fusing", Daddy?"
"It's when 2 pieces come together."
"So stars join together to make one star?"
"No, honey, all those hydrogen atoms that we just talked about are coming together."
"What's an atom?"
"It's the smallest something can get."
"Like an ant?"
"Yeah, like an ant."

nuk wrote:Changing mass to heat and light,
Stars are suns we see at night.

"Why can't we see stars during the day, Daddy?"
"Because the Sun is so bright."
"Oh...."
"Now let me finish."

nuk wrote:Burning brightly, eons pass
Nucl'ar fires made to last.
But someday these too will go
Supernova? Maybe so.

"Daddy"
"YES?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Just listen."

nuk wrote:Smaller stars die with more grace:
White dwarves strewn all o'er the place.

[Crying!] Mommy! Daddy's telling me scary stroies about dead dwarfs!"
"No wait...that's not what......"
"Dear! Tell her the story the right way!"
"Ok honey, what story do you want me to tell you?"
"How about "Hey diddle diddle?"
"Uh, sure......but you know that one was made up on PURPOSE not to make any sense."
"DADDY!"

ithink that is definatly your best ever post HLT

High Lord Tolkien wrote: [Crying!] Mommy! Daddy's telling me scary stroies about dead dwarfs!"

I'm afraid I never even got to that verse with my son. After writing the first verse, I sang it to him about ten times, and every time he scolded me, saying, "You can't see suns at night!" I tried explaining it to him, but to no avail.

nuk wrote:

High Lord Tolkien wrote: [Crying!] Mommy! Daddy's telling me scary stroies about dead dwarfs!"

I'm afraid I never even got to that verse with my son. After writing the first verse, I sang it to him about ten times, and every time he scolded me, saying, "You can't see suns at night!" I tried explaining it to him, but to no avail.

I forgot to mention that I thought the poem itself was brilliant!
Good job.
I'd frame it and give it to him when he has his own kids along with his reaction the first time you told it to him written on the back or something.

Great thread.

--A

After singing it to my son some more last night, I'm starting to win him over. He actually asked me to sing "Changing mass" and something that sounded like "Hydro-him and Heli-him". And now he only argues with the suns at night about half the time.
Now if we could only to get him to poop in the toilet.

nuk wrote:After singing it to my son some more last night, I'm starting to win him over. He actually asked me to sing "Changing mass" and something that sounded like "Hydro-him and Heli-him". And now he only argues with the suns at night about half the time.
Now if we could only to get him to poop in the toilet.