Do you ever wonder - where on earth did they learn that?

[Thistledew]

Content warning - not even stealth boasting parent alert.

DS aged 3 ½ correctly and completely out of the blue used the word 'symbiosis' today.

We were on a very bumpy train and he wanted to drink from a bottle of juice. I said I would help him hold it so it didn't spill.

DS: "But I can change my top if it gets wet."

Me: "I would rather you keep it dry as it would be more fuss for me to have to change it."

DS, letting me steady it "Symbiosis."

Me: "That's a very clever word. Do you know what it means?"

DS: "Yes, it means two things working together."

Me:

I have no idea where he learnt that from!

When my dd was in nursery she saw a photo of the Eiffel Tower and told me it's name and that it was in Paris in France.
I asked a few times where she learnt it but she kept saying that she just knew it.

I thought maybe they had learned about it at nursery but the teacher said no they hadn't.

It turns out it had been on a round the world episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
She used to come out with all sorts of facts she had learnt on Disney Junior and Octonauts. Made me feel a bit less guilty about her watching TV. I could tell myself it was educational

I watched in amazement (and vague horror) the other day as DS picked up my iPhone, which he can’t unlock, and very deliberately pressed ‘Emergency’ then ‘Medical ID’ then ‘call emergency contact’ and shouted HIYA DADA!! When DH answered. He’s 2. How does he know how to do that?! I don’t know how to do that!!

Not quite the same but not longer after DD turned 2, she asked what age was she. I said 2 and in a very thoughtful way she looked at me and said "life passes so .... "(Very long pause) "...so quickly doesn't it Dear" in a very clipped posh English accent.

She is Scottish and had never spoken like that before.

When my niece was 2 she told us an aglet was at the end of her shoe lace. We didn't even know it was called this! She learned it from Tv! She could also count up to 10 in Spanish from watching Dora the explorer!!

Not so clever but when mine was that age and he and I thought of the same thing at the same time, he said, "We must be psychopathic, Mummy".

He'd cottoned on to telepathy somewhere, no idea where he got 'psychopathic' from.

He'll have got symbiosis from watching Octonauts. My 3yo son has seen every episode at least 3 times and knows more about marine biology than most adults! I know the episode in question and they teach what symbiosis is beautifully!

DD was never one for throwing out random facts but she did come out with some impressive philosophical insight.

Once when I was going through a very stressful time and just trying to keep it together, she breezily observed "Everything usually turns out alright in the end. Sometimes it doesn't, but you don't need to worry about it." She was three. I asked where she learned that, and she said "Topsy and Tim".

My 2yo learns all sorts from tv. He can identify loads of different dinosaurs and knows dozens of fish and other animals. But he can’t count to 20 🤷‍♀️

Yeah I hate to say it but all these things are from TV... Toddlers aren't magicians that can just learn facts from no where 😅😅😅

My DS(3) is the only person in the house who knows how to broadcast from phones to the TV. He does it at my parents house as well and drives them crazy when Steve and Maggie flip on to the TV instead of whatever they were watching.

Woke up one morning and asked me "ou est mon pantalon?" I had no idea he was learning french at nursery. Now, if I ask him if he had french on a certain day, he just replies "non Maman".

He's so cheeky that nothing he comes out with surprises me anymore.

My DD always speaks in Spanish because of Dora, it shocked me the first time I heard it

I was in a nursery today, the children were asked how they knew a certain array was of a certain amount. Up shot a child's hand: "I subitised" .

It’s definitely TV. As soon as I saw this I thought “I bet it’s the Octonauts” - no shame in it, both of mine learnt loads about sea creatures from that show and they retain the knowledge to this day and they haven’t watched for years! When we go to the aquarium they always recognise the Adelie penguins etc.

And world knowledge was often from the Go jetters. I remember my son at about 3 pointing out the Golden Gate Bridge and me being 😱 until my other son said that one or other of the characters landed on it.

They’ve moved onto David Attenborough, Steve Backshall and Bear Grylls now and pick up just as much!

Could have also learnt it from Diego (Dora's cousin). "symbiotic, symbio-o-otic, symbiotic, symbio-o-otic" etc

The Effel Tower will be from Go Jetters. My kids have learnt some amazing stuff from YouTube and TV. DD2 knows a lot about the solar system and weird stuff about analogous colours. DD2 also learnt lots of maths from YouTube. DD1 has a surprisingly wide knowledge of drugs and their appearance from watching reality TV about border forces and airport security.

The things I find amazing are that they choose to watch some of the educational stuff - like a video of the 6 times table, watched repeatedly by DD2 when she was 4 - and that they remember it. But childhood is when weird stuff gets fixed in your head, not leaving room for more useful stuff later. My head is full of the Dogtanian theme tune and the opening sequence of Pigeon Street.

Charlie and Lola. Learned lots from that.

Ds taught himself sign language from Justin. Used it correctly. Before he could speak. He did speak late though.