Carcharodon carcharias

To learn about children and how to raise them is often the rather daunting but predictable task awaiting anyone about to have a child. That said, once travelling down the road of parenthood, there are endless bends, cracks, bumps and pit stops the majority of which cannot be predicted.

One thing that continues to amaze me is a child’s desire for information and knowledge and their sponge like ability to soak it up. For half a year or so Tobias has been absolutely engulfed in the world of sharks and whales. We have bought several books for him on the subject and a set of plastic marine animals. He will spend hours looking at the books and require us to read them before bed time. He can’t read the text so he meticulously studies the pictures, charts and figures. The result is that he able to identify more than 20 shark and whale species and has an acute knowledge of their size, habitat and behaviour.

Carcharodon carcharias is Latin for great white shark. This shark has a special place in his world because of its immense size and its nearly mythical status as the worlds most dangerous man-eater. Other species like the tiger shark and bull shark are also common in his role play because of their tendency to attack humans.

While a shark’s “dangerous” rating had immediate appeal to his curiosity, his attention has gradually shifted to encompass teeth, gills, pectoral fins, skin etc. and how they compare with whales and dolphins. All of this has of course not only been a learning experience for him but also for his mother and I. While I would not seek to participate in a TV quiz on sharks and whales, I would probably stand a reasonable chance of answering at least a few questions and would gladly seek advice from Tobias if he was there to help me.