Day 55/365: Friday's Unscientific Poll: Five-year-old impressions

[nanila]

During our two-day trip to London, Humuhumu and I witnessed the following, thus making the adventure a little more eye-opening than I'd intended:

• An air ambulance lifting off from Hammersmith Bridge after a car accident
  
• Five smashed-up cars, including a utility van on its side, at the roundabout near Vauxhall Station
  
• A homeless man being revived by paramedics after collapsing to the floor in the Starbucks near Vauxhall Station.

So, which of these things do you think she described in vivid detail to her three-year-old sibling as soon as we picked him up from pre-school on our return home?

Poll #19551 The mind of a five-year-old

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 67

View Respondents

She will forever remember the

View Answers

Air ambulance
28 (41.8%)

Multi-car crash
11 (16.4%)

Paramedics
28 (41.8%)

Comments

[djm4]

When I was 3, or thereabouts, my parents took me to Whipsnade Zoo, which is on Dunstable Downs and was having a bit of building work done. Upon being asked what I'd liked best at the zoo, I replied: 'the gliders, the concrete mixers and the astronauts'.

(There were no astronauts in the vicinity of the zoo. What there was, was a large communications array. I had asked what it was and had received a reply that in part referenced communicating with the astronauts that we had been watching on TV recently - this was 1970ish, so they were a hot topic. My 3-year-old brain had heard 'astronauts' and then almost certainly stopped listening.)

[nanila]

Haha! I think it's good for parents to be reminded that they don't get to control what their kids take away from a trip to a place. For instance, after visiting the Natural History Museum, I asked Humuhumu what she'd liked best. I was expecting to hear something about the big whale skeleton or the stuffed ostrich. She said, "the stones". Meaning the polished ones for sale in the shop that cost about a quid.

[djm4]

Yes. Having that story from my childhood set me up well for the frequent left-field viewpoints of the kids in my life, I think. And I find it refreshing and delightful when anyone looks at something I'm looking at and focuses on entirely different details. Well, usually; it's a bit less good if we're (say) crossing the road or trying to leave the house on time.

Memories of Christmas past

[ed_rex]

Too close to 20 years ago now for comfort, for three years I lived with my best friend and his son, who grew from five to eight during that time.

I am suddenly reminded of one Christmas when the house was full of children and full of presents, some fancy and expensive, others cheap junk from the local dollar store.
And it was the cheap toys that kept the wee ones enthralled and running madly about.

[castiron]

If it'd been my five-year-old, it would definitely have been the car crash.

[nanila]

Our five-year-olds are similar in this respect. Even though it was probably the least dramatic of the three events in terms of not actually happening before our eyes, she latched onto it. She spent ages trying to work out how it had happened - which car was going too fast (probably all of them; this is London), whether they'd obeyed the traffic signals (ha), who hadn't checked their mirrors, etc.

[fred_mouse]

Many of the five year olds I've known have been obsessed with big machines, so the air ambulance seems like a good bet.

[nanila]

I'd've thought so too. But no. It was the car crash. She spent ages trying to work out exactly how the van had ended up on its side - which car had hit it, who was going too fast, what colour the traffic lights had been, etc.

[fred_mouse]

Ah, the 'how does this fit together' child. In retrospect, that should have been obvious. The other two options were simplistic and flashy.

[nanila]

Yes! Thank you for that description. I shall remember it.

[fred_mouse]

:)

[lovepeaceohana]

I'm betting on the air ambulance just because it seems like a much more novel thing. :P I never have been good at guessing what the kids will and won't remember, though; they often ask me about events that I've lost all memory of, and the things I hope they'll remember, they seem to forget. Oh well. That's what photos are for?

[nanila]

Heh, I think you're exactly right. I did not take any photos of the air ambulance, the car crash, or the man being revived (thankfully, he *was* revived although he still looked extremely thin and unwell). But I did take lots of photos of things I can then use to remind her in future. :P

[cmcmck]

As you may know, the local air ambulance is based at RAF Cosford (as is the RAF museum which is WELL worth a visit) so we see quite a lot of it.

[nanila]

I didn't know that! We will have to plan a trip to the RAF museum - it's about an hour drive from us. Will let you know when we do that. :)

[perennialanna]

Our local air ambulance is based quite a way away (and we can no longer play the "Is it Prince William today?" guessing game), but the local hospital is right by the children's schools, and all three are on the Norfolk coast, so we quite often see helicopters coming in from the rigs. The hospital has specialists in head injuries and incidents requiring the hyperbaric chamber.

[silveradept]

I would have thought the paramedics, based on the action involved, but earlier responses tell me I am mistaken, and that the five year old very much wants to engage imagination over narration.

[nanila]

At the scene with the paramedics, she was mostly concerned about the man who had fallen down and if he was going to be okay. Thankfully, he was, and once he was she said, "He's all right now? Good," and was happy to sit down and drink her hot chocolate.

The aftermath of the car crash, otoh, gave her a good deal to chew over for the rest of the trip (and beyond).