My Skeptical Buddy

My youngest son, N, and I have developed a habit of watching Ancient Aliens on the History channel. We watch with a skeptic's eye. N, in particular, likes to argue with the "experts" on the television. He's only nine, but he's always been sensitive to statements that include words like "has to be" or "must". The experts are often quick to make the 'alien jump' (e.g. "the flat topped structure must have been a landing pad for spacecraft"). N is just as quick to point out the flaws in their logic - could have been and must have been are very different things. Even when the speaker takes a somewhat more cautious approach by sprinkling in "likelys" and "probablys", N still takes issue, pointing out numerous other explanations, often more plausible.

I enjoy our time watching the show. I like the fact that my son is not willing to accept just anything that's thrown at him, that he is able to discern when a statement has a shaky basis. Once, while we were watching the show, I asked him if he believed that aliens visited our planet. His response was typical, "I don't know if they did or didn't. And neither do these guys."