My house was overrun by dinosaurs for almost an entire year. My three sons (7, 5 and 3) were obsessed, and I found myself living in a pseudo-Jurassic World, drowning in dinosaur encyclopedias, pyjamas and dishware. Model dinosaurs were underfoot in every room, and the imaginative play du jour always included a variety of loud (but alarmingly accurate) dino sounds. Dinosaurs were all anyone talked about, even the youngest?and he could barely pronounce ?brachiosaurus.?
This fascination started with my oldest son, an animal lover with a penchant for trivia. For him, the study of prehistoric creatures was the perfect fit. Because he is the oldest, he often gets to dictate what, where and how everyone plays together. If he decided that they all had to be velociraptors, then they would all be velociraptors?no questions asked. It was cute to watch them play together, but it also made me wonder: Did all of my kids love dinosaurs as much as my oldest" Or were the other two just tagging along" After watching them more closely, I realized that my middle son?s interest in dinosaurs was pretty limited. Given a choice, he would rather be building wooden block castles, winding train tracks, magnetic tile towers and traffic jams with Matchbox cars. He was precise and careful in constructing his creations, and they would often hold his attention for an hour or more.
But if you asked him what he liked, he would say dinosaurs. As the proverbial middle child, he was willing to go alo...