Our excursions in the car are by far my favorite times.. When the children are either lost in thought gazing out their windows, mouthing the words to their favorite songs playing on the radio, or their inquisitive minds are asking questions that Clark and I try our best to give honest and sound answers to.
We usually are not much for sugar coating answers or for offering up fairytale conclusions, yet we do our best to keep explanations age appropriate. It is rare that a question will go unanswered.
Just yesterday we were driving home from town when Nelson asked, "Where do people come from?"
My first thought was, "Oh crap.. Here we go!" But he soon clarified his question in that he didn't want to know where they come from now but how did they first get here... Being a student and graduate of the study of Anthropology I gave my best scientific answer trying to explain, in 6-year-old terms, everything I know about evolution. And, to appease their spiritual side, I also gave a little explanation representing the side of creationism.. I told them they could ponder both aspects and come up with their own conclusions...
Henry continued by saying that the first person must have been a "girl" because, "babies come from girls." "Right Mom?"
In which I, again, thought to myself, "Oh crap... Here we go."
Fortunately, the conversation was quickly interrupted due to a "punch-buggy" that passed in the opposite direction which immediately turned the backseat into a battleground... (Twin tip: Avoid teaching twin boys how to play the Punch-Buggy game or Slug-Bug as we used to call it.. It really isn't as fun as you may remember.)
This whole little conversation brings me to my main point... The things we just can't explain.
While driving home from San Antonio last weekend one of the boys brought up a discussion involving the tallest buildings in the world.
"What is the tallest building?"
"Where is it?"
"How tall is it?"
Henry chimed in, "Dad said that there used to be two buildings in New York that were some of the tallest buildings in the whole country... Did you know that Mom?"
"Yes I did know that, Henry."
"Dad said that they fell."
"Did the wind blow them over?"
In which I replied, "I don't know, Henry."
And we all turned to gaze out our windows mouthing the words to our favorite songs on the radio.
1 comment:
Some of our toughest questions have come in the car, don't they! Last night my daughter and her friend wanted to know the meaning of the song on the radio-- Madonna's Like A Virgin.
Explain that one!
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