Eamon loves dinosaurs. It is due to a PBS kids show that is called Dinosaur Train. (And for those concerned, he watches no more than 1 hour of videos a day. There are occasions, such as rainy wet days and sick days when he gets more, but he also gets more books and cuddles on those days too.)
The show is actually very informative and they are fairly good at explaining the difference between what is know scientifically and what is hypothesis. Dr. Scott the Paleontologist tells us about the dinosaur that Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, and Don met that day on the dinosaur train. He sometimes makes comparisons between present day creatures and the dinosaurs. He sometimes shows the fossils of the dinosaur in question. He sometimes just gives interesting facts. But he always ends with, "Get outside and make your own discoveries."
So dinosaurs have entered our every day language. A Tyrannosaurus Rex might be outside our house. A Brachiosaurus might be eating our salad. He loves to wear his dinosaur shirts. We read several dinosaur books a day. He might be Mr. Conductor, shouting, "All aboard!" We color dinosaur pictures and do dinosaur crafts. And when we "dig for bones," he calls me, Mrs. Paleontologist, while he is Dr. Scott.
It isn't the only game he plays, of course. He hunts bears (and ghosts, thanks to our little neighbor :-)); he is Tom Thomas, the helicopter driver from Fireman Sam; he plays music; he is Mr. McGregor; etc. But what I especially love about the way he thinks about dinosaurs is the wonder, curiosity, but also the acceptance of unknown things. I don't know how exactly to explain it, but it is fun to watch him play "discovering dinosaurs bones and fossils."
His fascination has made me wrestle with the science and faith of dinosaurs too. I don't think that "God created the heavens and the earth" rules out the idea that the earth has many ages. I don't think that evolution necessarily contradicts anything that is in the Bible. I believe that God could have created the Earth with age; should it then be difficult to accept that He could also have created it using natural aging processes? If Bible scholars can say that there are more ways to interpret scientific evidence, which don't really make lots of sense scientifically, why are we surprised that there might be more ways to interpret Biblical texts, scientifically? and that those interpretations are actually orthodox? There is more to write on this, but that isn't the topic of this post.
Eamon doesn't have to deal with all this yet. He will have to wrestle with it, and plenty of other questions, someday. I hope to be able to help him ask good questions and look in good places to find answers. And I want to give him a solid foundation so those questions don't have to shake his simple faith in God. But I also have to be willing to accept that God may direct him to other answers than the ones I give him. Dinosaurs are becoming a step of faith, both in researching them, as well as in parenting.
