My nephew looked at my dining table and asked, "Why are the candles melted? Have you been getting romantic?"

I knew he was a boy detective.
I knew he was astute.
I knew he didn't miss a beat.
I knew he was smart.
I knew he was humorous.
And I was glad I was not involved in a custody battle with him as the go-between mouthpiece and that he was just my visiting but well-loved nephew.
I knew children were smarter than many adults remember or give them credit for being.

my nephew asked his mother
why i am born for you ?

From a 9 year old, who came back from school after a lesson on the environment...

"Dad, my teacher says that when you flush the toilet, it all goes to a place where it is treated to make it clean and safe, and then gets put into the sea. Is that true?"

Me: "Well, it's a little more complicated than that, but basically that is true."

"Yuk! That must be a horrible place to work!"

Some days later, same 9 year old, this time after a lesson on Religious Education...

"Dad, my teacher said that if we are good, we will go to Heaven when we die, and that Heaven is a really nice place. Is that true?"

Me: "Yes"

*long pause*

"Dad, are there toilets in Heaven? And does all the wee and poo go to Hell to get treated?"

Same 9 year old, after a much loved pet cat died, and a very tearful burial in the back garden, next to a shrub the cat used to snooze under...

"Dad, will he go to Cat Heaven? Will I be able to visit him when I die? Will he remember me? I will be older then, how will he recognise me?"

I have taught my children that God lives in their hearts. When my daughter Bailey was four and starting kindergarden, she asked me "if God lives in my heart, does that mean that my belly button is his lunch room?"
My answer was yes.

My Daugher, Riley, and I were having a delightful conversation about mulitple realities, dimensions and thoughts of such... I tried, my best, to explain to her, the concept of multidimensional existence... after a few minutes of silence, she asked" so, are the dimensions on top of eachother, infront of each other or all in each other. Did I mention that she is 4 years old? Yep... and a self declared vegetarian, Earth loving, animal whisperer and is quite a woman.

Dear Mallika

I would like you to consider a variation of your question:

What is the funniest, most difficult, inspiring or soul searching question you have asked your parent, teacher, or yourself, as a child? How were your questions answered? As an adult, what will be your answer if a similar question is asked by your child?

I am sure upon retrospection and self-reflection every one of us would remember our childhood memories of questions asked. We might forget the funny questions which are transmitted in family stories that we hear from our parents. But the questions that are most close to our hearts are the ones we alone know. This contemplation will shed a light on a child's deepest thoughts. It enables us to comfort our child based on our own experiences.

What do you think Mallika? I am sure you adressed these points in your book. Do you have such childhood memories to share? Do you have any family stories to share?

Thank you

Dear Char,
I like the definition, when you looked up thoughtful .... as being able to anticipate another's need. That is lovely :)

Dear Heather and Olivia,
I agree with both the observations you make about
'hearing'
being an inside job
or from without,
because everyday I experience
both.

I listen and participate in conversations, and creative projects every day and
I self-talk internally
way too much!

I have learned to practice questioning the way I think, and to see when it's 'faulty'.

If Cho had heard voices (within and/or without) - it did compel him to take his anger and hurt out on dozens of students and teachers at VT.

I believe the 'enemy' we create is the one inside, and then we 'unleash' it to the world, and sadly, we often feel justified in hurting and killing others. The students and teachers on campus last Monday did not have much chance to even protect or defend themselves.

Dear Richard,
(post 15)
What a difference it makes, to reach out to help others, to offer aid - makes me think of the NT story of the Good Samaritan.
love,
~ Kate

Dear Abhay,
forgive my post of 8 (written for Deepak's post on the VT events of last week).
What a wonderful idea to suggest to Mallika. I would love to also hear from the IB community too
~ Kate

One of my first grade blind students many years ago had a tummy ache. I was asking her some questions trying to decide if I needed to take her to the nurse.

Her comment to me was, "Well, can't you see it?"

I had never had a question like that and it made me realize how a blind child may percieve things like that. It was really interesting!

Joanie

"I love you"

Was a friends kid

:p

To Everyone here we call 'dear'...:)

"Daddy, why do headlights make Bambi freeze in the middle of the road?"

"A sign" says Dad,"that mammals often act illogically and irrationally."

Really...my kids now know better than to ask me anything,
unless they have a lot of spare time on their hands.
I tend to go off on a tangent. They say, "There goes Dad again..."

.

I once asked my Mom why Dad was crying in his room with the door shut.
Grandma had just passed on, or over....

I wasn't sad, they always told us at church that we went to Heaven if we were good.

And Grandma was good, as far as I was concerned.

"I wasn't sad, they always told us at church that we went to Heaven if we were good.

And Grandma was good, as far as I was concerned.' so sayeth the TREE.

whoa...i guess not much has changed for the TREE this those long, bygone, impressionable childhood days...! no?

Another friend of mine who teaches blind kids just told me 2 questions from blind students...

One ES student was shocked that the basement was underground...and just could not understand when he went to his basement that he was underground.

The other was a student who was so surprised to find out that when you turn a light switch on in a room that, that is not where the light comes from!

My son asked how he could stop falling in his dreams. I told his dreams were his, and he could do whatever he wanted with them. He learned to fly, instead. He was about two.

Aloha Everyone

My six year old granddaughter insists that her one year old sister is her twin. And upon reflection she probably was or is in another realm. love patty

I told this story earlier on IB, but thought I would mention it again:

I was raised in a Catholic Dominican convent. It was a very strict environment; but during the season of Lent even our tiniest enjoyable events were taken away from us. It was also during this time that every statue -- of which there were hundreds -- were covered in purple cloth. I began to associate the color purple with sorrow and lack.

As the years went by, I even became rather superstitious about the color. I knew it was silly, but I thought if I wore purple that something bad would happen.

It didn’t help when I was given, as a present, a very lovely purple dress. I really liked it, except for the color. I decided to wear it in spite of my superstitious belief.

I was teaching fourth grade at the time when I dared to wear the purple dress to school. Standing in the hallway that morning, some of the teachers complimented my dress. I told them about my superstition, and of course, they all laughed at my silliness.

As the school day started, the electricity went out. It did not come back on until the next day. It was a dark and cold day, so most of the time was spent in very chilly and dark classrooms. At the end of the day, one of the teachers who had laughed at me earlier, came over and begged me to never wear purple again.

One of the fourth graders who had overheard our conversation, came over and took my hand. She looked up at me and said, “It is time for you to be kind to purple. And it is time for purple to be kind to you.”

This wasn’t a question from a child but a very wise observation. There were many lessons that I learned from that day. In this case -- as in so many -- the teacher was the child and the child was the teacher.

I do wear purple now.

Hi
I have a son and he badly wants a brother or a sister.. after months and may be years of pestering me and my husband and on realising that we were not going to give in, he asked me the following question
" When i get married, can i have 4 kids?" and when i said yes ..he was on cloud 9. Since then he has never troubled us..dipti

From my 4 year old grandchild "When is tomorrow and yesterday?"

I failed miserably, it sounds so simple and seems so clear to me: 'when you get up in the morning it will be to-morrow'; didn't work. She got up in the morning and told her mother 'Nana (grandfather) told me it is to-morrow now!'

It's me that needs help :)

I have realized what great teachers our children are, and love asking them questions to learn how they perceive the world. It is especially interesting to me that my 4 year old twins always have very different answers to the same questions.
When I asked them to describe who God is, Aidyn answered 'the sound of chi', Kai answered 'chipmunks'. I believe they're both right.
When I asked them what we are made of, Aidyn declared that he is made from light. Kai shared that he is made from love. I think that they're both right on that one too.
Terri Lynn

When my son was around six years old; a family of 3 children, moved two doors down from us. One of the children, were black, the other two..white.

My son asked me: "why did God make people different colours?"

I explained, in terms a child could understand; grasping for clear, simple words a child could accept...

I explained...

"When God created earth.. at first it was all brown dirt, rock.. no colours!! So, God planted trees, and was so happy with the colour, he added some animals..but most were the colour of the land, so God added flowers. Before God knew it, a world was being created... a blue sky, a brown, green and black lands, filled with pools of water like lakes and oceans and the sea.

God wanted even MORE colour--so people were created, to take care of Gods gardens; and to eat the fruit and vegetables!! And, because God thought--the abundance of coloured flowers and plants made the earth look so nice... decided to make people different colours too!! In this way.. the world is filled with colour everywhere..."

Well, simple as it sounded, my son agreed.. and I was off the hook... lol

Gosh, we are seldom prepared for the questions our young children will ask...but, somehow..appropriate answers come to us, usually leading to more questions!!

These question answer sessions my son and I had..are treasures in my memories...

North

Dear Mallika,
I remember being 5 years old and in kindergarten. I was sitting under a tree when an acorn fell and hit me on the head. At that moment I contemplated creation, the universe, birth for the first time. A young moment of (inspiration). It only seemed like a moment but when I came to my senses at least an hour had passed and all the children had gone back into their classroom. It was like I experienced missing time. I wandered into a building and asked for directions about where I should be. I guess I know kind of how Isaac Newton must have felt.
Todd

I have a little brother who was born on September 11th five years before that day became known to the world. I remember him asking " is my birthday evil?" Still to this day i remember thinking how am i suppose to answer this. All i could say was "no" and change the subject. I know he cannot even to this day understand what happened, he's nine now. Now when Sept.11th roles around we shut off the T.V's and focus on him and his birthday. NOt to be rude or not wanting to remember those who passed but because we dont want him to think thats all we care about on his birthday, is to be so wrapped up in the T.V and remembering every event of that fatefull day. Yes that happened that day, and it was horrible and the world changed that day. But i also recieved one of the best things that day five years ealier, my little brother. So I honor him and those who lost their lives that day.

Dear Mallika,

2 years back my son Moksh asked, when I would die. I said hopefully 30 years later from now, but can never say. He said, dont you worry, you would not die since you dont have white hair yet. Then I had to explain him about untimely deaths. He immediately said, he doesnt want me to die. I told him about circle-of-life and reminded him of lion-king. He says he is glad that I will watch-over him. kudos to lion-king!