“Where do babies come from?’
“Why does it get dark at night?”
“What sort of tree is that?”
“Why don’t we fall off the earth when we are upside down?”
Some of these sort of parenting questions I find easier to answer than others. My tree knowledge for example is pretty poor, unless there’s something obvious like a conker happening. I swear that when I used to ask my mum questions like this, she knew the answer to everything. The older I get though, the more I wonder if actually she was bluffing a lot of the time, and that if you say pretty much anything to a child in a confident voice, they will believe you.
(See ‘5 things my mum told me that probably aren’t true’ for further evidence.)
I had sort of assumed that as your children grew up, became adults, left home, got jobs etc, that they would stop asking a list of questions like this. I was wrong. Bee claims she is ‘slightly too old to Google things as a first instinct’ and so instead she texts me her question.
Recently they have included:
“How do I cook stir fry?”
“How much is a first class stamp?”
“Do you think I’m having a stroke?”
And, most recently, this:
I do actually quite like the watering can analogy, because it does work a bit like that, although, as I went on to explain, it doesn’t come from one big tank like a watering can, but is a complex system of ducts, that all come out in the same area.
I love it of course that she still asks me questions, (and that she thinks I might know the answers), and all the more so because I know that it’s partly just a reason to be in touch. I’m a bit rubbish at communicating generally, (with individual people rather than Twitter), and so it’s good that one of us takes the initiative.
And texting is so easy isn’t it? Which is good, because Bee doesn’t know how much a stamp costs.
That text message made me laugh out loud. Please explain?! hehe. You will forever be her teacher x
I spent 4+ years working for Text Q&A services like ChaCha / 63336 / Bongo and you wouldn’t believe the stuff we used to get text to answer!!!
You are the 63336 / Bongo service to your daughter!
This made me giggle, I don’t realy think I knew that until i was breast feeding for the first time! whoops. It’s lovely to know that they’ll always want to ask questions….aslong as the kiddo grows out of Paw Patrol that is! x
My youngest Bea is going through that phase of asking questions all the time, prefixed by that same slightly whiney Mummmmmyyyy at the beginning. I love how enquiring her mind has become but after a while it’s so exasperating! I am a bad mum aren’t i?
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Definitely not! I found a good answer to the ‘why’ type questions was ‘why do YOU think…?’ – it turns it onto them then. (I.e. less work for you.)
hehehe love that text!!! I don’t think they ever ever stop asking questions!!