Braining

My middle daughter asked me the classic question regarding some long division: “When will I need to know how to do this?”

Now, I could think of a few circumstances when being able to do long division would be helpful, but that answer wouldn’t be the honest one. The honest answer is: “Probably never.”

But I gave her a different honest answer instead, one with a deeper truth. Here’s what I said:

“Right now, your brother is in the other room doing pull-ups. He’s not doing that because he’ll ever need to do pull-ups. He’s doing it to get strong. You aren’t doing long division because you’ll ever need to do long division. You’re doing it to train your brain, to get smarter, to exercise your mind. You’re braining.”

That did the trick. She doesn’t love math, but she does love being smart. Anything that she can view as brain-training, as braining, instantly holds her attention.

Life isn’t a series of things you need to do. It’s an adventure – one that you get to enjoy even more if you’re healthy and smart.