Chapter 1: Budding Electrician

My Little Girl

She's a sweetie! I don't like to toot my own horn often, but I feel like I've done a bang up job on raising my little one. We had our problems in the past, a rough (and loud) relationship with her father, my post-postpartum depression, yelling fits and various ongoing money troubles. But despite all that, she's caring and sweet and very clever. There isn't much I can get by her. In the past I was able to sneak with my words by spelling them out to other adults, I can no longer do that. Raeven has begun to put letters together and has called me on a couple different occasions for my 'spell hiding'.

Something that has recently surfaced is her love for electronics. Now she's always loved her electronics and has known how to work AV cords since she was two, so it's no wonder her passion for electricity has grown. About a week ago she pulled me into her room to look at a device she created. I was a bit worried at first, thinking she may actually try to plug said device into a wall outlet somewhere. My concern was quickly melted away when she told me the device was a solar powered battery charger.

The bottom part was a piece of paper where the circuit was drawn, quite well I might add; Raeven even remembered complete the circuit! The bottom part also had two LED lights sticking out the sides. This was all drawn with markers. The next piece of paper was the shell, which she laid on top of the circuit board. This one had two holes in it for each of the charging points, the LED lights. It even lined up properly. She took some of her Lego's and stacked them on one hole, and a brick of them on the other. The clump of blocks collected sunlight and the other eight-block-high stack was the rechargeable battery. Raeven told me that when the lights went out, it was done charging and you could then remove the block pieces. The battery you removed could be plugged into any device that needed power or was just running low on battery life.

While some people may think 'oh, she just copied a battery charger', it's bigger than that. This girl tried to create something complex. Many children draw pictures or build a block tower and call it a machine; Raeven, however, decided to combine a few different materials to construct her contraption. Again, it may sound insignificant, but this example is a shining start for a potential career. I'm very proud of myself and the steps I took to get somewhere in school, and someday I want her to feel that same kind of self-pride.

I don't plan on pushing her into becoming an engineer, I know very well that could have the opposite effect. What my intentions are, is to encourage her in whatever she want's to do and to hold her hand every step of the way. The only time I will let go is when she's sure she can do it on her own. I'll remain patient, she's only six, so I have a long wait ahead of me until that day. For now, we'll keep doing simple science experiments with electricity at home and when she's old enough we'll get involved with science fairs; and I won't have to wait too long for that one, maybe just a couple years.