When I was 8 or 9 I came up with a basic design for a perpetual motion machine (it involved little dynamos on a track, and a ball running back and forth over them). No, I didn't use the term "perpetual motion machine". Anyway, I explained it to my mother who said it wasn't possible.
Well, if I have a kid, I'm going to buy him some dynamos and tell him to build that sucker.
My fear is that, should I ever have a child, it will be completely uninterested in building, reading or learning, and therefore I will be out of my depth. My child would probably be a social butterfly.
In fact, I'm quite sure that this would happen. As jwz says, the universe tends toward maximum irony.
Well, if I have a kid, I'm going to buy him some dynamos and tell him to build that sucker.