Whilst it only seems like yesterday that Ben started at Coltishall Primary School, already half term has passed and by the time Christmas arrives his first term will have been completed. The first 'parents evening' assured us that he had 'settled in' and that his evident enthusiasm for school was reflected in his progress to date.

A particularly boisterous playtime resulted in a collision with an older boy who, having apologised, took a tearful Ben to a teacher for attention. Ben considered the treatment by the teacher somewhat miraculous for he described that simply the application of 'white fluffy stuff' to his head enabled him to immediately recover and return to play. We can only assume it was cotton wool.

Anyone who has recent experience of children of Ben's age will be aware of the impact that computers are having on children and the ability and enthusiasm with which they grasp the principles that often elude the older generation. In the past, as a parent, you could reasonably be assured that your child would not 'out perform' you until at least they achieved their teenage years.

Ben's interest in dinosaurs was neatly combined with his interest in computers with a game appropriately called Dinosaur. One of the aspects of this game involves a small dinosaur is being chased by a T Rex through a canyon in which you 'pick up' both 'health plants' and 'leaves' by a serious of manoeuvres in order to score points. Whilst Ben's first attempts were less than

successful he persisted and began to achieve reasonable scores which were duly recorded on the 'High Score' chart in the computer. I became interested and decided to set Ben a target to aim for. Intense concentration on my part finally achieved a score of 49,000 and I sat back, safe in the knowledge that this would be beyond Ben's capabilities.

Casual monitoring of his progress together with words of encouragement, saw his scores creeping up from the 30,000's into the 40,000 and my 'target' was becoming vulnerable. I witnessed the 'run' that saw him achieve 53,000 and thus the 'top-score'. His smile of satisfaction followed closely by a fist punching the air and a cry of 'Yes!!!' put me firmly in my place. Worse was to follow when he very soon raised his top score to 65,000. His top score still remains 'top' despite my frequent attempts, when Ben was in bed asleep and I had the computer to myself, to recover my former position. Is it important to win? No, say the people who haven't won. Yes, say those who have won. What I do know is that it is in the least thought provoking to accept that your son, who is not yet 5, holds the record score.

M B