The questions kids ask.......!

Posted by: Chillkram on 29 August 2007

My eight year old son has always asked a lot of questions, but recently they have taken a bit of a bizarre twist.

On Sunday I was at a barbecue at a friends house when my son ran up to us and said, "Do wolves slide..?". We looked at each other quizically before he continued, "..when they go 'round corners?"

We just roared with laughter at such a bizarre question, the absolutely perfect timing and probably more than a little alcohol to help us on the way.

This evening he asked me a few other questions:

"When you burp, is it a word?"

"Can plastic wings make you cry?"

"Is the Grim Reaper a life form?"

Should I:

A) Book him in for therapy?

B) Ignore him?

C) Answer his questions with as much sincerity as possible or

D) Book him a slot on the 'Jonathan Ross' show?


Perplexedly

Mark
Posted on: 29 August 2007 by Guido Fawkes
quote:
"Do Wolves slide..?"

Kevin Muscat used to ..... right in to opponents legs.
Posted on: 29 August 2007 by Unstoppable
C
Posted on: 30 August 2007 by acad tsunami
Ask him what he thinks the answer might be and have a good chat about it. Children often already have an idea what an answer may be before they ask the question. Children are brilliant.
Posted on: 30 August 2007 by TomK
When my older son was about two we had this conversation:

Him: Can supers fly?
Me: Pardon?
Him: Well Batman's called after a bat. Bats can fly but Batman can't. So I was thinking that since Superman was called after a super and Superman can fly, maybe supers can't fly.

He also used to call a fly a "piderhoney". The blackness of the fly reminded him of a spider but as it flew it reminded him of a bee. Hence a fly was a spider that could make honey.


It would be a wonderful experience to get inside the mind of a child.
Posted on: 30 August 2007 by Deane F
I gave my six year old niece (she's actually six-and-a-half...) some egg cups last time I visited her and her mother. A week or so later on the phone I asked her if she'd used the egg cups yet?

Her answer, "No, we've only had flat eggs."
Posted on: 30 August 2007 by Phil Sparks
when my eldest was about 3 years old he saw me having a (rare) electric shave one evening before heading out for dinner. He'd seen me shave most mornings but not at night.

He asked me if I was putting the prickles on...

Phil
Posted on: 30 August 2007 by Adam Meredith
quote:
Originally posted by TomK:
It would be a wonderful experience to get inside the mind of a child.


I did that in the 60s - still get flashbacks.
Posted on: 30 August 2007 by Chillkram
quote:
Originally posted by acad tsunami:
Ask him what he thinks the answer might be and have a good chat about it. Children often already have an idea what an answer may be before they ask the question. Children are brilliant.


Acad

He is a great source of entertainmment. Very surreal. But you are right. He knows the answer he is looking for before he asks the questions and it is good fun trying to track back through his mind to try to find the source of his query.

Trying to establish the link can sometimes be a fascinating game!

Mark
Posted on: 03 September 2007 by domfjbrown
quote:
Originally posted by Chillkram:
Trying to establish the link can sometimes be a fascinating game!


...as Adam hinted, LSD has a rather nice effect of reproducing childhood thought processes - if you can handle it and not flip out. Winker

Oh - if you ever get sick of kids asking you "why?" over and over again when you've run out of the ability to go any further into the subject, hit them with "X" or "Z" - it totally stumps them. Worked wonders with my 4 nephews/nieces Smile
Posted on: 03 September 2007 by Alexander
I've got this nice paperback here with kids' drawings on how they would handle a problem like building a moon rocket you can live in for 3 weeks, or build a house quickly, and the thinking is fascinating. Grownups are blocked by knowing how it should be done and they just reproduce what they know. Which is a lot more realistic of course.