The Art of Conversation and A Surprising Answer

I live in a house with five other humans who are all able to communicate with their mouths.  And yet, I find myself scratching my head sometimes over our lack of communication skills.  One of my children in particular has a hard time with conversation.  He likes to throw out fact upon fact, but the conversation isn't necessarily interactive.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine who also happens to be a communication arts teacher.  Yay for me!  We were brainstorming all sorts of ideas and solutions.  You know, we were having a conversation about my son's lack of conversation skills. (;  One of the ideas she came up with was TableTopics;  a set of cards filled with lots of engaging questions to inspire great conversation.  She graciously loaned me her version.

That night I pulled a card.  Our question was, "If you could master a musical instrument, what would it be?"  Silly me, I thought I would get answers that range from the guitar, to flute and maybe a kazoo or two.  However, I am both delighted and surprised that two out of the four kids came up with some unique answers.

"If you could master a musical instrument, what would it be?"  Ethan replied, "The theremin."  Huh?  I thought he was teasing me. A quick search revealed this video.  I am 47 years old and just learned of this! 

And Megan, not to be outdone by Ethan's answer said, "The ocarina."  Again, huh?  Yep, it's a real instrument.  An ancient wind instrument to be exact.  These kids.  Where do they learn this stuff?  I know one thing, it's not from me.

As far as improving our communication skills, I'm hoping this will be a fun way to do that.  I do know I will obviously learn lots of new things and hopefully we will all gain insight and experience in the art of conversation.