Educators often talk about the "teachable moments" when a child is actively interested in learning something and a opportunity to really help them learn is readily at hand. I had just such a moment this morning with my son Sam.

I was looking at some news stories about the missing link fossil that is all the buzz in the media right now. As per usual, there are those that will scream loud and long that this proves nothing and that evolution is "merely a theory" and not true.

Given my background in science, it's not surprising that I disagree. This new fossil provides some interesting data that does in fact support evolution. That's what science is about, providing evidence for a conclusion, but never declaring absolute Truth. More on that in a future post.

But back to Sam. I was looking at some pictures of the fossil and he asked what it was. I said it was an animal that lived over 45 million years ago and that seems to be a creature that we are all descended from.

As it happens, I had talked to Sam and a neighborhood friend of his about evolution just this past weekend while they heckled me as I prepared our garden beds for planting. I tried to explain the basics of evolution after the neighbor kid made an innocent, but inaccurate statement. Like Sam, he's a smart kid, so I wanted to help him understand things a bit better. They seemed somewhat interested in what I had to say before they went off on some adventure in other parts of the yard.

When I mention that we were descended from this animal, Sam said "we evolved from it? So it's like our great great great great great grandmother or something?" Yes, that's exactly what this could mean. Sam smiled that "hey I just learned something cool" smile and went off to bug his mom for breakfast.

It was a simple experience, but wonderful to see that connection made in his mind. And that is one of the best parts of being a parent.