Indoctrinating the Next Generation of Jeopardy! Addicts

Grandson Avatar asked his mom, “Why do Grandma and Grandpa make me be quiet whenever Jeopardy! is on?”

She gave him some lame answer about us being old or something. I predict there will soon come a day when young Avatar will also shush people when he watches Jeopardy!

A few years ago, when he was even younger than his current nine years of age, he had some friends and cousins over to play. Avatar thought the other kids would be equally as thrilled as he was to watch a documentary on the prophecies of Nostradamus. When his mom, my daughter Em, noticed the increasing discomfort of her young guests, she suggested that Avatar choose something else, like a cartoon. One child looked at Em in gratitude and uttered a dramatic, “Thank you!”

Last Friday Avatar requested a sleep-over at our house. He arrived during Double Jeopardy, knowing from past experience that silence was the order unless he wanted to venture a response. He tried to answer a few.  When it was over, Grandpa Computer Geek told Avatar he could watch whatever he wanted on Netflix.

Did he choose The Avengers? Or Transformers? Something that other nine-year-olds might find of interest?

No.

He asked if he could watch Discovery Atlas: Uncovering Earth. Apparently there was a segment on Africa’s Great Rift Valley that he didn’t want to miss.

Gosh, I love that kid.

When his show was over, he wanted to chat with me.

“Grandma, do you know who the first people in America were?”  

Knowing how smart this kid is, I thought he was hoping that I would say something like “Columbus” or “The Pilgrims,” to which he would respond with the name of an indigenous people. I simply said, “No. Who?”

“It was Adam and Eve. That’s because the Garden of Eden was actually in Minnesota.”

I have a few relatives who are Minnesotans and I think they would be thrilled to know that.

Then, “Grandma? Do you know why the ocean is so salty? It’s because when Noah had the ark and all those people drowned, the salt from all those bodies stayed in the ocean. If you lick your arm you will see that we’re made of salt.”

That boy. He’s a thinker.

So yeah, I have no doubt that soon he will be sitting with Grandma and Grandpa, Monday through Friday at 5:30 and 6:30, shushing other people and refusing to answer the phone. He’s kind of a nerd like that.

Weston, Avatar, and Chunk, engrossed in Wii Lego Lord of the Rings