Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Do your kids ask questions like this?!

All the time. I get the strangest questions, many of which I have no clue. DS4 asks lots of questions about heaven, and what happens after death. "where is heaven?" "is there water for goldfish in heaven?" "who will go to heaven?" And questions about God as well. Also about planets and solar systems...and lots of number questions "so 1 trillion has 16 0's, how many does a gazillion have?" "what is infinity x 2?" "do you ever wonder what the mantle in the earth looks like?" uh no, why would I ever wonder that? LOL When he was 2 he started asking questions like "how does the water get in water towers to come to our house...how does it get up there?" and "how do doorbells ring?" And lots of other questions about how electronics work. It is quite overwhelming. When I don't know (which is often) we will look it up if he interested enough. Also he likes to ask for definitions of abstract words...which is always fun. I never realized how challenging it can be to verbally define certain words. We also have some books of questions. There is a good book I believe it is called "how come?" there is a series of different topics. He finds that fairly interesting.

I love the questions, even though usually my answers involve something like, "Here's what some people believe, and here is what others believe." OR "Let's look that up on the Internet!"

My favorites have been about how animals evolve - DD4 is very interested in paleontology and archaeology, and we've done everything from mock digs in the backyard to reading everything we can get our hands on. Related to this are the countless questions on Human Growth and Development in utero.

DD4 is also interested in the idea of God - her preschool teachers make the kids pray before lunch, and she can't figure this out. "Mom, why do I have to thank someone that's invisible for lunch? You made my lunch, so I decided to thank you instead." And, "My teacher told me God lives in the sky. But I know that clouds are just water vaper, so that can't be true. He'd fall right through!!"

I think we have a budding skeptic on our hands.... :-)

DS6: "Do bees know they're going to die before they sting you?"

All our Pochemuchkas!!!!

Yesterday, my son (after 2 "boring" hours of childrens church) asked me why age is so important. I asked him what he was talking about and he told me that he thought dividing children by age was dumb...he said they should be divided by their intellect. Pretty insightful!

Movingup, how old is he? THAT'S pretty scary. What did you say???

Smiles,
Kate

When I was little and asked my dad (a minister) where heaven was, he said "everywhere." -- in case that helps with these "location of God" questions.

My favorite answers to theology questions from DS5 are "Good question -- nobody really knows the answer" and "Remember to ask Grandpa next time you see him." Not that he accepts those answers, you understand. But they're my favorites. :lol:

I like to say "What do you think?"

Sometimes my kids ask a question because they have an answer in mind and they want to see if they're "right." So I prefer to hear them out first and then discuss with them what they believe, rather than trying to give them any sort of answer.

FWIW...

DS6 at 2 - who's that man? where's he going? why did he choose that car? is that his favourite colour? where does he live? does he have kids? what would their names be? would they have a toy rocket? where does he work? what job does he do? what does he like to eat? etc. Confined space - rapid fire - car torture.

DS6 now - why is there a war in the middle east? why don't other coutries go to was with Zimbabwe to get rid of Robert Mugabe even though they go to war in the middle east? why is Zimbabwe poor and dangerous? why doesn't the Zimbabwean army get rid of Robert Mugabe? why did the electorate change their minds at the last election? why are countries in Africa poor? why do countries go to war? how did England manage to colonise so much of the world even though it is so small? why did they want to? why did they think it was alright to do this? why do world leaders choose beautiful ladies for their wives? why does the leader of the opposition want to be Prime Minister?

I feel so utterly inadequate.

<comforting pat on the back>

So sorry!