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One of my favorite things about being a parent is that I'm constantly learning fascinating facts about the world - stuff that I normally would not be exposed to.

My child's current obsession? Drawing flags.

So yesterday I bought her a book about flags and we learned about the #Wiphala (her favorite flag in the book) - "a square emblem commonly used as a flag to represent some native peoples of the Andes."

Find out more about it here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiphala

#TIL

in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

that's so true, we learn a lot from our little ones. My son is also a lot into flags, real and imaginary! He went as far as putting a page in his website that shows a random flag each day (he's 8 and this is his HTML, CSS and JavaScript code): randoms.neocities.org/random-f…

Thank you for sharing, he'll love to learn about this one, so unique!

in reply to Rodrigo Pio

@rrapio wow this is so impressive!!! please congratulate your son on my behalf ❤️
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

and the real heroes are those who share that knowledge with the world.. Thanks @_elena for doing that :)
in reply to Kailas Idavanmuzhi

@saliaku haha thanks! now I feel compelled to share with you my favorite bit of trivia that I learned thanks to my little one.

maybe you know this already, but here we go: astronauts on the ISS see the sun rise and set 16 times a day... because it takes the ISS just an hour and a half to complete an orbit around the Earth 🤗

in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

"some native peoples of the Andes"
further down it mentions Aymara people, so not some, but at least one specific group. Very wired wording
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

love the Wiphala! Thanks for sharing widely. Its usage maps roughly to the [[Tahuantinsuyu]], the sphere of influence (to put it some way) of the Inca empire.
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

Nice !
As pensioned volunteer, I did a museum-shift with a colleague last year. 20 klm North of Amsterdam.On a very quiet Sunday in winter.
A boy came in, we estimated him around 18 yr. Talking for 2.5 hours about his hobbies. One of them ¨flags".
Some villages in the area merged some years ago, called Zaanstad. One of the villages , Koog aan de Zaan, never had it's own flag, while the others had. The boy designed a flag, accepted by the local administration last year.
He was just 14:🙂
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

if you've got a few minutes, @99pi.org did a great series of podcast episodes on flags, their origins and decoding them. Roman (the primary host) is a true fan … sample video here 99percentinvisible.org/article… but there are loads of episodes related ...
in reply to FediThing 🏳️‍🌈

@FediThing I’m terrible at that (0 sewing or knitting skills) but I could easily make a LEGO version with my 4-year-old 😅 good excuse to buy new bricks too (we’re out of them after building a whole village - hospital, hairdresser, school, airport, pizzeria, etc.)
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

"building a whole village - hospital, hairdresser, school, airport, pizzeria, etc."

Ooooh... the nostalgic feels! 😁

in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

I did those buildings when I was little and had pretty much totally forgotten about them. Funny how memories can come back at random!

Thank you for that!

This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to Every day is extra.

@everydayisextra it used to be a pain point but now he says that with a smile because our 4-year-old is building impressive, awesome things 😊
in reply to Seth is a Perpetual Startup ⁂

@phillycodehound oooh but there are awesome sets for teens and adults too - my 4-year-old loves my LEGO Cinema Palace and the Boutique Hotel (Expert sets, 16+). If you need advice for your kiddo to reel them back in, let me know 🤗
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

@FediThing There’s no excuse needed ever to buy more LEGO bricks. What is of utmost importance though with a growing number is meticulous inventory management so you don’t „randomly find“ pieces at night when skillfully raiding the fridge. 😳
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

"Fun with Flags!"
(In case you don't know, it's a recurring vlog that Sheldon hosts on the TV show Big Bang Theory)
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

There was this fun flag project done by my previous employer: flagstories.co 😊 Maybe some of the visualisations can be fun enough for your kid?
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

honestly this is one of those things absolutely excited me about having kids. I was looking forward to the "why" questions. I know so many parents get annoyed, but I see it as an opportunity to learn more about the world as well and it's super exciting! Except when it's like:

Don't play with the toilet!
Why?
Because it's dirty and gross from pee and poo!
Why?
Because you pee and poo in there!

lol :-D