Bill and I were at church yesterday morning. Shortly before Mass began, a family entered the pew behind us. Though I didn’t turn around, it seemed to be a mom, a dad, and a child. I’ve been pleased to see more families at our church, and was happy to have them there.

Shortly after the Mass begins, the congregation sings the Gloria. You know, glory to God in the highest and peace to people of goodwill. Bill and I began singing, and I noticed that the child behind us was also singing. I peeked around, and was very surprised to see that it was a child who was maybe 2 years old who was doing the singing. She knew every single word of the prayer by heart. Most adults don’t know the prayer by heart, and have to read along in the prayer book. She couldn’t carry a tune very well (having only practice heretofore with Mary Had a Little Lamb) but she knew every word.

Wow, I thought. Kids these days are so smart.

Bill and I are constantly pointing out to one another that our grandkids are very smart. I was out in the garden recently with 11-year-old Mylee, and I said something about ants not being very smart because their brains are small. As soon as I said it, I waited for Mylee to respond, because I knew she would have thoughts on what I just said. She did. “Nana, the size of your brain doesn’t have that much to do with how smart you are,” she said. I’m not certain she is correct, since I know I’m smarter than most ants. But she certainly was not shy to express her opinion.

Whenever she or many children provide a fact or some information that I’m surprised they know, I will ask them how they know that fact. Almost without exception, they will respond that they saw it on You Tube.

I’m not here to encourage parents to let their children play with technology to their hearts content. I can tell you that many kids would do nothing but stare at screens, when they need some time to socialize and get fresh air. Still, I am not horrified by the amount of time many kids spend on technology.

Kaiya, Mylee, and Cole were here on Saturday. Cole wants me to sit next to him and watch him play his games. I have no idea what he’s doing, but whatever it is, he’s doing it very quickly. His fingers move so fast I can’t even keep up with what he’s doing. And he’s narrating his actions. He’s talking about avatars and browsers and taskbars. At one point, he told me he wished he had admin privileges so that he could do, well, something. I will admit that I stopped listening when he said admin privileges.

How does he know what admin privileges are? When I was Cole’s age, I was still reading Dick and Jane and learning my shapes.

In the meantime, Kaiya was prowling around, doing a blueprint of our house in pencil. She intended to then transfer the blueprint to a program she knew in which that was possible. Her drawing, by the way, was amazing, and startlingly accurate, even in proportions.

As Bill and I say, our grandkids are smart.