The other day, my mom was reading a book to my boy. Actually, there wasn't much reading involved, as it was a book with a bunch of animal pictures, and they were making animal sounds together. He's big into animal sounds these days.

Anyway, they were sitting down facing each other. With the book facing her, she'd turn the page and say what animal was on the page, prompting him to make the corresponding sound. It was like a quiz. She'd say, "It's a doggie! What's the doggie say?"

"Wuh wuh wuh!"

"That's right!" She'd turn the book towards him, they'd look at the picture, and much jubilation would ensue. Then she'd turn the book back towards herself for a moment.

Every time she turned the book away, the boy would say "Cack cack cack," which is his version of what ducks say.

"No, honey. That was a doggie. Ducks say 'quack,' but not dogs." This same thing happened on every page. He'd get the first animal sound right, then he'd quack. It was bizarre, but she continued.

A few minutes later, they finished the book. When she closed it, she noticed that on the back of the book, there was a duck. Most likely, she was inadvertently pointing at it every time she turned the book back towards herself.

I can think of a dozen other instances where I have explained to the boy why he was wrong about something, only to later determine that he was right. Kids are really quite smart. They'd probably be way smarter if adults weren't always getting in their way.