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8 Comments

  1. Hello. it’s me from Twitter. Thank you for telling me about this. Jack Horner actually said in a interview. he said kids like them cause they’re big, strong, and gone, which I agree with as well as this one. I fell in love with paleontology because you don’t know about it it’s mysterious that’s why I always loved it. 🙂

    1. Avatar for Steven Mason Steven Mason says:

      That’s a great point. They are something children could fear but they’re not around to harm us. Thanks for reading!

  2. Avatar for Matthew Criollo Matthew Criollo says:

    i am actually a 10 year old and i still love dinosaurs since i was 2.

    1. Avatar for Steven Mason Steven Mason says:

      You’re never too old for dinosaurs!

    2. Avatar for Daividh Eideard Mitchell Daividh Eideard Mitchell says:

      “Why do my kids love dinosaurs?” isn’t an interesting question. The question worth asking is: “Why do you not?”

      Paleontology is a legitimate and potent field of study that tells us a lot about the world we live in. It fills me with no small amount of annoyance that it’s far too often discussed as if it were something inherently juvenile.

      Kids used to play “cowboys and indians” fairly often, didn’t they? Does that make an interest in American frontier history inherently childish? It’s a real subject. What about “cops and robbers”? Kids played that, too, yet crime dramas usually aren’t aimed at kids, nor is pursuing a career in law or law enforcement seen in such patronizing terms. What about sports? Kids tend to play them at a young age, too, yet no one is asking what draws children to this activity, nor is a sports obsession necessarily associated childhood.

      The mystery of dinosaurs is something adults need to contemplate, not children. Stopping to consider that dinosaurs are, in fact, real should be a mind-blowing revelation for anyone. Why does that fact not stun you like Paul on the road to Damascus? And if our meager existence is part of something greater, as Paul discovered, then how can anything in this shriveled, materialistic world we’ve cocooned ourselves in seem important ever again?

      1. Avatar for Steven Mason Steven Mason says:

        Excellent points about how strange it is to consider dinosaurs juvenile. Many of our activities as children influence our adult lives.

        Interestingly enough, various topics in science and history don’t draw the same criticisms for enthusiasm. Why would people grow out of dinosaurs but not space exploration? I never understood the distinction.

  3. Avatar for Jeannette Jeannette says:

    Dinosaurs are big scary monsters, they are real but they are dead (apart from some small feathery ones that are mostly not scary) so they pose no threat. I wonder if dinosaurs provide young children a mechanism to learn to handle their understandable fear of big scary things (adults?) and potential monsters that may lurk under the bed. In effect, dinosaurs become domesticated monsters, controlled by knowing their names and details, and by being shrunk, as toys, to a size that can be controlled by small children. There’s a broad mythogical theme of controlling others by using their names. Kids are remarkably adept at learning the often complex dinosaur names.

    1. Avatar for Emily Murphy Emily Murphy says:

      I think this is a great hypothesis. Dinosaurs are the monsters that were and not the monsters that could be, meaning that it’s comforting to know that the scary ones from the past can’t hurt us.

      The use of a name to wield power is interesting. I immediately thought of “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” from the Harry Potter series. Perhaps this is linked to some human associates we make with names.

      Thanks for your comment!