2 New What?
This was my daughter’s idea. One night at bedtime, she asked me to “tell her something new.” I wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for, so I tried to think of some piece of trivia that would be interesting and comprehensible to a three-year-old.
While I don’t remember what I came up with, it was good enough to leave her wanting more, as she immediately asked for another “new thing.” Hoping this wasn’t just a ploy to extend bedtime, I told her something else, which did the trick. She was satisfied and went to bed.
Until the next night, when, after books, she once again wanted 2 New Things. From then on, I’ve done my best to have something to share with her (and eventually, her little brother) each night. Based on audience feedback and other points of context, there’s been a bias towards biology, zoology, paleontology, and astronomy. Occasionally we deviate, but it’s hard to beat something like robots on Mars or an extinct marine reptile with a monsterously-toothy mouth when you’re talking to kids.