How can I help my child focus her energy?

Children are often full of wonder about the universe, planets, and deep space. You can tap into this interest to help inspire your child to work on focusing her intense energy. A particularly inspiring example is gamma ray bursts, which are the brightest explosions since the big bang. Gamma ray bursts have the highest energy blasts yet found by astronomers, but what makes them particularly special is that the energy is not sprayed in all directions but is focused into narrow beams or jets. They are powerful, energetic bursts caused by the explosion of a star, and the energy is channeled like a laser beam.

Tell your child about this fascinating scientific discovery and let her know that she can be like a gamma ray burst by focusing her powerful energy like a laser beam. Tell her to imagine focusing her energy on whatever task is at hand. For example, if she has worksheets to do for homework and has too much energy to sit still, remind her of the gamma ray burst. Tell her that right now her energy is like an explosion, with all the energy going off in every direction but not able to accomplish anything. Tell her that she can focus her energy like the gamma ray burst and use it to get her homework done. You can have her draw pictures of what a gamma ray burst would look like and put it on an index card to take to school with her. On the other side of the card you can write, "I can focus my energy like a gamma ray burst." You might also want to track down gamma ray burst photos from the January 2004 issue of Astronomy, the National Geographic website, or other astronomy sites on the Internet. These photos can provide powerful mental images for your child, reminding her that she can control and focus her energy.