[/caption] If you haven't grabbed up "Today's Song" (and sung it over and again with your child of any age), now's the time to do just that. You'll also find (with the song on my site) fun activities to do around the song. We'll begin today with wacky language and knowledge for your kids 5+ years, so "Today's Song" will help younger kids grasp some of the time concept we're talking about here. Even so, stay tuned if you have kids who are younger than 5. There are ideas here today for you, too. Ideas besides the reminder to TALK and sing "Today's Song" today and every day! All that said...we're now gonna get wacky...and begin by going back in time. To a day some 20 years ago. A time before home computers and the Web and search engines, and cable and satellite stations, and such. I sat at my kitchen table, very much into my always-and-forevermore morning ritual of reading the newspaper. And an idea came to mind. How, I wondered, might newspaper headlines read one-hundred years from now? One-thousand years? A million? In googol years? I know, you're thinking Babs is getting doubly wacky. One, she's misspelled googol and two, she's thinking newspapers will exist in future times. 
But poetic license lets me go anywhere with my thoughts and words. And keep in mind this story idea came to me back in time. Time when hard copy newspapers were still the #1 media for news. And on that day (Google it or ask any 12 year old), googol was and is not misspelled. Nope. A googol is a very large number (1 followed by 100 zeroes). The search engine took poetic license to name itself. Likewise, this poet takes poetic license often...like whenever certain story ideas come to mind. So my thoughts that back-in-time morning landed on all sorts of things that might/could happen in: Googol Time What's the future hold in store? Let imaginations soar– Frostiwaves for instant freezing FBI reports on teasing Robots trick or treating ghoul-ness Gauges measure awesome cool-ness Faxing people through the air Automated underwear Self-destructing secret notes Schools with alligator moats Beaming up your enemies Toddlers earning Ph.D.'s Just-add-water instant housing Credit card required for browsing People living googol years Babies crying colored tears Toilet seats with self-close lids Beds that make themselves-for kids Watches read out body weights Trap doors on all children's plates Moisture-sensing windshield wipers Automatic-changing diapers Cupboard shelves that wash the dishes Press-a-button come-true wishes Bottled Love for sale in stores Household pets do household chores Crime extinct, the courts declare Peaceful people everywhere Be it silly or sublime, What might be in googol time? Copyright © 1987 Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz ("Googol Time" was first published in Poetry Works: The Second Stanza, Modern Curriculum Press/PearsonLearning, 1992) Here's a puzzle for TALKing and THINKing about the poem with your child (ages 5+): TALK to identify one of those wacky ideas of "then time" that's already here in "now time." (Ask me if you two haven't yet experienced this yesteryear's idea of wacky.) Go ahead, add more wacky ideas to the poem. Remember, you don't have to rhyme. Though you might find it easy once you're into this poem's rhythm. Now, if your child's a bit young to handle the language and knowledge in "Googol Time," then sing "Today's Song" and follow up with TALK about one event that happened yesterday, one event of today, and one planned experience for tomorrow. Yes, keep it simple. To make it more concrete for your little one, jump backwards for the concept of yesterday, stand still for the concept of today, and jump forwards to depict tomorrow. On another day, point to a calendar as you say each concept word.
With kids of all ages, including your 4's, make up wacky ideas that would just never happen. You might name this particularly fun TALKing and THINKing activity something like: "WOW! Let's get all wacky with Ms. Babs!" Enjoy and tune in tomorrow, THINKing Thursday, to THINK and learn about how you and your child can TALK comprehension skills. See ya!
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Babs Hadjusiewicz
Author
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