Life Lessons

This week, I'm teaching my students about Gregor Mendel, and how heredity works. I love teaching genetics.

To make the lab more real (and because I like showing family pictures) I projected this picture on my board.

From Sensory Play

"What color is my wife's hair?" I asked.

"Dark." (Several girls also said "She's so pretty!")

"What color is my beard?"

"Red."

"Right! The opposite of dark. What color is my son's hair?"

"Dark."

"My son has one gene from his mommy, and one gene from me. He looks like my wife, though, because her gene is dominant."

There were more than a few puzzled looks, so I continued.

"Dark hair is dominant. Light hair is recessive. My son is a hybird; he has one dark hair and one light hair gene, but what color hair do you see?"

"Dark."

"That's because it's dominant!"

My wife, son, and I are perfect examples of this. I went through our eye colors next. Carrie and Shane are brownies, and mine are a "Blue!" "No! Green!" according to my class.

Then something memorable happened.

One of the girls in the front of my class, looked up at me and asked "Does your son have your ADHD?"

I was totally surprised and cracking up on the inside.

"Yeah, he's probably doomed!"