Take the story of astronomer Dr. Vera Rubin, a scientist with Lithuanian roots, who is featured in the new American Women Quarter Series for 2025. Her early interest in astronomy was encouraged by her father, who helped her build her first telescope. Her career was supported by both parents and her husband, a mathematician and physicist who babysat her four children and drove her to school when she was still studying at college. Astronomy was a fun family activity both at home and at work. All four children later earned doctorates in science or math and pursued academic careers in mathematics, geology, or astronomy. Karl, the mathematician, is currently emeritus professor at the University of California. He gave a fascinating lecture about his mother recently and explained how his father indirectly encouraged his interest in mathematics.
Living in Toronto, a membership or visit to a museum can also develop interests in science, archeology, and ancient civilizations, among other things. The University of Toronto and the upcoming KESKUS International Estonian Centre are both within walking distance of the Royal Ontario Museum (one of the largest museums in North America according to Wikipedia). Favourite memories of mine from the ROM’s past include: the bat cave (especially for Halloween), the geology exhibit, and their world-recognized dinosaur collection. The ancient civilizations exhibit and Chinese collection are magnificent. Remember also that they have a small collection of Estonian and Latvian textiles. As a side note, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our youngest family member for “saving” his parents from a scary looking dinosaur shadow at the ROM over twenty-five years ago!
Fotogalerii
Moving on, making your own present allows for a different level of creativity. If you want to make your own birdhouse, keep in mind that larger hardware stores will often cut wood to your specifications if you are buying wood from them directly. This way you can make your own kits without investing in a lot of expensive equipment.
Especially important is support from family and teachers at critical moments in time.
While older students with computer coding skills will value a Raspberry Pi computer kit for Christmas, younger children often appreciate simpler electronics kit (as Radio Shack used to produce) which turn a light bulb on or off. The “visuals” are what often attract kids to engineering at a young age. You don’t need to wait a month for something to “grow,” you see the exciting results right away.
If your relative’s small child threatens to run away from home if his parents do not buy him a piano, you know you have a budding musician on your hands! Here I would defer to composer and University of Toronto music alumnus Erik Kreem, for holiday gift suggestions for budding musicians.
As noted elsewhere, “curiosity leads to discovery and ambition becomes action.” Especially important is support from family and teachers at critical moments in time.
