Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school 4-year-old with thoughts too big

Wow, ZenScanner, I LOVE that Wiki! Contains MANY of my favorite children's books.

My DD has also asked the "What if this is all a dream?" and "What if my dreams are what is real and real life is a dream?" questions. She is intrinsically a big thinker--absolutely. I do think this can be quite terrifying and isolating. I've talked to her about the concept of philosophy. She seemed comforted that she isn't the only one struggling with these questions. In fact, she said she wanted to major in it in college.

LOL aw, I remember wondering exactly the same thing

I have been meaning to log back on and thank Zenscanner as well. That is a wonderful resource. We own nearly a third of those books and read them all the time. I wonder if this has something to do with the state we are in right now. I can't say that we go into in-depth philosophical discussion because of these books, but we have used many of the characters to describe emotions, personalities, preconceived notions, prejudices, character growth, etc.

Also, we have read about 25-30 novels a la Charlotte's Web with more mature themes that she not only understands but demands. Then there are the biographies of famous people that detail a person's entire life, including death. She remembers almost every little detail of every book she has read and easily draws comparisons. We were reading The Wizard of OZ (again) today, and I asked if she thought the Tin Man wanted a literal heart. She quickly answered that she thought the Tin Man just needed love to grow his heart like the Grinch's had done. She does stuff like this all the time.

I thought of this thread as I received a volley of new deep questions from my four-year-old today.

As far as an update, she is so much less angsty right now. I really think the episode had a lot to do with being uncomfortable at school. I think it took her about two months to actually make some connections with kids in her class. She is so slow to warm, but I think the social stuff is really important to her. She's shy but not completely introverted. She has not wished to die in a long time, maybe once in the last 6 weeks. I cut her a lot of slack, and I think she really needed it.

As far as today. Out of the blue she started asking me who she is. She kept asking me, and I brushed her off as being silly, and she kept letting it drop. But, finally, at lunch she was so serious and was like, "who am I?"

I asked her what she meant and it really began. How did I get here? How was I made? How does "my thinking" work? How am I talking? What does God want us to do? Are there aliens on other planets just like us thinking about us? Who am I? Who. Am. I?

So, luckily I was high on patience, and we just went through it all from the Big Bang to Evolution to Reproduction to Genetics. I tried to steer it scientific. It is so much easier that way for me.

But, her biggest question was about talking. None of my explanations on that were enough. We talked about vocal cords and how she learned to make the different sounds by moving parts of her mouth when she was a baby. She did enjoy talking about linguistics. But, she kept talking and saying, "How am I doing that?!" It was kind of funny.

I have to say, though, some of the questions she asked me were freeeeaky coming from someone so young. She was very meta today.