My Legos are Made of Dinosaurs?

"Hey, guys, let's read this book about oil!"

"No, mom, I wanna read the otter book," said my six-year old daughter, who wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up.

"Really, you guys, don't you want to know more about what makes our car go?"

Lately our family has been talking about high gas prices. Last time I filled up, my six-year old son made the following connection, eyes widening into saucers as he watched the price on the pump click upwards, "Whoa, mom, eighty dollars to get gas for our car? That's like a whole set of Exoforce Legos!"

We talk about how many miles we can drive after that $80 fill-up. My twins have been yelling "Glide, Mom, GLIDE!" to get more miles out of our tank. They watch our Saab station wagon's display panel like our lives depend on it. Distance to Empty is now the most exciting part of our day, and I can say that without hyperbole.

We glide down the hills after visiting my in laws house and I hear squeals of delight from the back seat as D.T.E. moves up from 238 to 265 miles. We barely crest over the top of a hill and the kids go nuts with celebration that the momentum from coming down the last hill was barely enough to get us over the next one without stopping or using the accelerator. I explain that D.T.E. is how many miles our car's computer thinks we can drive with the gas we have left.

Many times during the drive, my kids implore me to glide. I become the wet blanket as I yell, "Guys, I CAN'T GLIDE UP EVERY HILL. There's a reason people don't drive go-carts! If we try to glide the whole way, we'll be sitting here blocking traffic on Page Mill Road." As I accelerate up a small hill, the twins register profound disappointment as D.T.E. goes down to 250. They say in unison, "Awww, Mom, D.T.E. is going down." They quickly forget what I said about going uphill and ask me to GLIDE again, "to get D.T.E back up, OK? MOM!?"

What really started to click with my kids is a library book called, Oil. Really. Sounds boring, but we had so much fun reading it last night.

The book opens with a close-up shot of a big drop of gooey black oil.

My daughter was intrigued by the photo, "That's what goes in our car? I didn't know it looked like that. Gross!" Her twin brother suddenly stops building with Legos and comes over to look.

"Well, let's read some more and find out." Both twins are now cuddling on either side of me, all to read about this black goo. The twins haven't been interested in the same book for about two years so I'm grinning inside.

"Look you guys, it says here that oil is made from remains of dinosaurs and plants and bugs."

"Really? That's cool!"

Then we learn about how oil is taken out of the ground, about ocean-based oil rigs that have sleeping quarters and movie theaters, and then about all the things oil is made into: gasoline, kerosene, tires, pesticide (referred to as bug poison in our house) and plastics.

I try to translate this into their daily life, "So if you think about it, whenever you use something made of plastic, it's made from oil, which is made from dinosaurs." Then, I tell the kids to go touch everything in their room made of plastic. This lasts a long time - they touch everything from their headboard to their storage bins to their Zoob toys to my eyeglasses to an empty Ziploc baggie to their Legos. We even figure out that their nylon sleeping bags are made from oil.

"Wow, so mom? My Legos are made from dinosaurs?!"

I smile big. My son also realizes that Legos and gas come from the same oily source, so he knows that a tank of gas and a box of Exoforce have more in common that price.

I tell the twins to touch everything in their room made from metal, then wood. Those are much smaller lists.

We read the end of the Oil book which explains the environmental effects of using so much oil. We look at a world map of where oil is found and I tell them about the Middle East and how they control most of the oil in the world. We talk about running out of oil. This is a good conversation with six year olds. They are really into it.

The book explains that oil can cause explosions and pollution. Finally we read about ocean oil spills from tankers. I explain that if there's an oil spill, animals like otters can get covered in oil, and we could volunteer to help clean them off. This is about as close to nirvana as my zookeeper daughter has ever gotten -- after an oil spill, she could handle her beloved otters and other furry and feathery sea creatures. Not only to touch them, but to save them. I turn the page and there is a photo of a pelican, black, covered in oil.

"See," I say, "Mommy isn't making this stuff up."

The book even talks about finding cleaner ways to run our cars and keep our house lights on. Some day soon, I say, "We'll replace mommy's car with one that uses electricity instead of oil, wouldn't that be great?" If our electricity comes from wind power, then we wouldn't use any fossil fuel to drive.

I can see the little cranks turning in their brains. I envision that scene from an old Helen Keller movie where she puts her hands under the water pump and signs W-A-T-E-R into her teacher's hand - the point where she finally figures out sign language. In their own way, my kids just figured out how part of our world works. A very complicated, political one, but I hope this is the beginning of an interest in renewable energy.

We woke up this morning and my kids were still touching everything made from plastic and saying "This is made out of dinosaurs! And this! And this!" But what brought a tear to my eye was my daughter's request - and it was not to read the otter book she so wanted to read last night.

"Mom, can we read that oil book again?"

Alix also writes for www.mednauseum.blogspot.com, a blog devoted to research supporting dietary and environmental causes of chronic illness. She is currently writing a book about wind energy.

An original Silicon Valley Moms Blog post.