Inquiring Minds

One of the coolest things about children is that their little minds are sponges and they are so interested in so many things. One of the first words that both of my children said was "why?" - and I think that's probably true for most kids. Kids just really want to understand and learn. While the why thing can become a bit of a nuisance after a while, it can also be pretty great - especially for someone like Marty who is also incredibly naturally inquisitive and loves to encourage this in our children. Years ago Marty made it a personal goal to take seriously and answer seriously every "why" our children ever ask. A daunting task, but he is not easily defeated. However, as the kids have grown older, their questioning has continued, but it has also gotten much more complex.

In recent months, Luke's favorite question has shifted from "why" to "what." Every time we're reading a book, he points to every single object pictured on the entire page and asks "what's that?". This can sometimes be a little frustrating because he knows what most of the things are and it also takes about double (or triple) the time to read him a book these days. But sometimes he really doesn't know what something is and may actually learn about it from his constant asking. He will also interrupt conversations and songs to ask what something is (ie "what's chicken and dumplings?") maybe partially because he likes to ask questions (like his father) but also partially because he is actually interested in knowing.

At four and a half, Elise's questions have become alarmingly more complicated. Her latest fascination is with babies and pregnant women (which is truly perplexing because none of her friends' parents and none of our friends who we see regularly are pregnant right now). Of course we encourage her to ask questions and we want her to know about the things she's in which she's interested, but at the same time there are things that I am not quite ready to talk to my 4 year old about. For example, "how does the baby get out of the Mommy's tummy?" And vague answers like "Mommy gives birth and the baby comes out" don't work, because she fires back with "Yes, but where do they come out? Where? Like your bellybutton or something? Where?!" How much information is too much for a preschooler? - that's MY question. She is also asking questions like How does the baby get in there? Why doesn't the baby have any clothes on? and my personal favorite - When Lucas and I were in your belly, did Lucas push me out?

I love that Elise is so genuinely interested in learning about something (regardless of how uncomfortable it makes me!) that she's relentless about finding out the answers. I think it says something about the kind of learner she's going to be and I love it! Though for now, I would be much happier if the something she was interested in learning more about was something more benign like say birding or gardening...