not to oversimplify an extremely complex discipline but if i had to pick one tip to give people on how to have more productive interactions with children, especially in an instructive sense, its that teaching a kid well is a lot more like improv than it is like error correction and you should always work on minimizing the amount of ‘no, wrong’ and maximizing the amount of ‘yes, and?’
for example: we have a species of fish at the aquarium that looks a lot like a tiny pufferfish. children are constantly either asking us if that’s what they are, or confidently telling us that’s what they are. if you rush to correct them, you risk completely severing their interest in the situation, because 1. kids don’t like to engage with adults who make them feel bad and 2. they were excited because pufferfish are interesting, and you have not given them any reason to be invested in non-pufferfish. Instead, if you say something like “It looks a LOT like a tiny pufferfish, you’re right. But these guys are even funnier. Wanna know what they’re called?” you have primed them perfectly for the delightful truth of the Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker
[Image Description: A banner depicting a starry blue sky, with white text in the center that reads: “#FFF156 NO BATTERY LIFE.” End ID.]
This is my first time participating in @flashfictionfridayofficial! The prompt this week REALLY caught my eye, so I wanted to give it a shot :> And, of course, I decided to write Tales From the Gas Station fic ASDFJKL; This is inspired by a specific scene from volume one, but I took a lot of liberties with the dialogue and such.
Fandom: Tales From the Gas Station
Words: 562
Content Warnings: This one’s a bummer, and it features a depiction of a character who is dying from his injuries/blood loss after being attacked by another character. There is also discussion of a terminal illness and a touch of suicidal ideation. If that sounds distressing, or you’re not in the right headspace to read about something like that, tread lightly! (I will go ahead and say though that this has a hopeful ending.)
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For much of his life, Jack has felt like a used battery. He feels like an old, broken thing, low on energy and with very little left to give. He supposes it was only a matter of time before someone decided to throw him out.
