Object lesson: no running!
Today's story comes to you from the Maryland Science Center.
In Spacelink, quietly working at one of the computers. No visitors have been in sight for half an hour.
Suddenly, the thudding sounds of someone running. The weight of the gait tells me it's either a kid or a very small adult. Moments later, I can hear several of them. I start shutting down my program and putting the exhibit on the computer up.
I'm nearly finished when a ten-year-old boy sprints into the room at full throttle. I'm just opening my mouth to say "No running, bub!" when he makes a hard right towards a door-sizeded opening in the wall. Or, to his speed-blurred eyes it looked like a door.
It was actually a mirror, imbedded in the wall. He hit the mirror at full sprint and was lucky that neither he nor the mirror broke. He lay on the floor a moment, stunned, while two girls about his age also ran into the room and ground to a stop at the sight of him on his back. I walked over, my rebuke left unsaid - I figured the mirror had given him the object lesson he needed! The kid was fine, just a bit surprised. Once that was determined, the girls laughed at him, and the trio went off to find their group.
I noted that they all walked.
In Spacelink, quietly working at one of the computers. No visitors have been in sight for half an hour.
Suddenly, the thudding sounds of someone running. The weight of the gait tells me it's either a kid or a very small adult. Moments later, I can hear several of them. I start shutting down my program and putting the exhibit on the computer up.
I'm nearly finished when a ten-year-old boy sprints into the room at full throttle. I'm just opening my mouth to say "No running, bub!" when he makes a hard right towards a door-sizeded opening in the wall. Or, to his speed-blurred eyes it looked like a door.
It was actually a mirror, imbedded in the wall. He hit the mirror at full sprint and was lucky that neither he nor the mirror broke. He lay on the floor a moment, stunned, while two girls about his age also ran into the room and ground to a stop at the sight of him on his back. I walked over, my rebuke left unsaid - I figured the mirror had given him the object lesson he needed! The kid was fine, just a bit surprised. Once that was determined, the girls laughed at him, and the trio went off to find their group.
I noted that they all walked.