Kaleidoscope of Feelings


This summer vacation, we subscribed to this online course called Logiqids for our 8 yo daughter. It’s about developing logical thinking, and they provide online worksheets, each with 10 multiple-choice questions. The format and the skills it helps develop all reminded me of those IIM entrance papers back when I was at college…

The site offers the option to download the worksheet, solve it offline, and then submit the answers online. That’s the option she uses. Of late, I let her solve it herself, then we go over her answers (or questions she couldn’t solve), before submitting them.

There was this one question she did that both impressed me and annoyed me. I was impressed because it was complex (X is 10 years older than Y; Y is 6 years younger than Z; Z is 18, so how old is X?), and yet she had identified the way to solve it (the right additions and subtractions) correctly. But I was annoyed she’d done the calculations wrong. She got the hard part right, but had messed up the easy part.

So I asked her to re-do the calculations. She did it right this time. Then I started switching windows to get to the browser to sumbit her answers and what do I see? The Calculator application was open and the correct answer was staring back at me!

I didn’t know what to feel. Amused that she’d “cheated” and used the Calculator to do the calculation? Or annoyed that knew of the right tool, had applied it right, and yet picked the wrong option from the multiple choices?

It’s amazing how a kid can induce a kaleidoscope of feelings in such a short timeframe!

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