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Difficult Questions Children Ask (New Dad Here)

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So we just had twins, and I'm starting to realize there are a bunch of things I'm not quite sure how I'll explain (either because I'm not sure on the specifics, or because I know what I want to say, but not exactly how to say it).

So what I'd like to do is compile a list of as many of the difficult or need-to-research questions. Here are some of the ones I've come up with (based on the questions I asked as a child). What are some of the questions you would add to this list?

1. Where do babies come from?
2. Why is the sky blue?
3. How do stop lights work?
4. What happens when you die?
5. Which one of us is your favorite?
6. Why do we need to breathe?
7. How come my friend has two mommies / two daddies?
8. Why did the dinosaurs die out? (I need to do some more reading into Bakker's theory before I go all in on the comet impact theory)
9. If you love me, why don't you do this for me / get me this / etc.?

Added from the thread (and some that came to mind as a result of the ones in the thread):
1. Is Santa Clause real?
2. Is the Tooth Fairy real?
3. "What's a rim job? And what's cum? This boy in my class, James, he was telling us he was looking at this video his older brother found and there was a rim job and cum in it. What is it?" (Or any other sexually explicit terms, when asked prior to puberty)
4. What are these two *insert animal here* doing to each other?
5. What is god? Me.
6. John keeps grabbing his peepee during recess, why is he doing that?
7. Why isn't (insert name here) married?
8. Why do they keep picking their nose?
9. What does being drunk mean?
10. Why are people different?
11. Why are some people poor and some people rich?
12. Why don't they have a home / house?
13. Why are they in a wheelchair?

To be clear: The purpose of this thread is not to get tips on how to answer *these* questions. Rather it's to ask: What are some of the difficult questions your kids have asked you, or that you asked as a child?
And another clarification: I don't need help in how to answer the list above. Rather, I'm asking: What are some of the difficult questions your kids have asked you, or that you asked as a child?
 
welcome , new father, to the worst word in the English language - and, as way of introduction, here is what it's going to be like for you....

why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ?
why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ? why ?
 
None of those seem to bad and any that you don't want to answer just say you'll tell them when they're older
Would you care to maybe contribute some questions you think would be difficult to answer? I think in general it's good to think through how I'll explain things.
 
First off congratulations on becoming a father. As far as how to answer the questions, being truthful is the best way. Even if it has to be broken down simplisticly.
 
None of your questions are particularly hard to answer. It's quite possible to explain all of them even to a very young child.
 
1. Where do babies come from?
2. Why is the sky blue?
3. How do stop lights work?
4. What happens when you die?
5. Which one of us is your favorite?
6. Why do we need to breathe?
7. How come my friend has two mommies / two daddies?
8. Why did the dinosaurs die out? (I need to do some more reading into Bakker's theory before I go all in on the comet impact theory)
9. If you love me, why don't you do this for me / get me this / etc.?

1. Give your children the strict, biological, scientific facts. They'll be so bored they'll never ask you any of the other questions.

5. The firstborn.

6. Try not breathing.

7. Your friend Jimmy is just better than you.

9. I don't love you that much.


The others you can wiki, and I can't believe seven is even there.
 
So we just had twins, and I'm starting to realize there are a bunch of things I'm not quite sure how I'll explain (either because I'm not sure on the specifics, or because I know what I want to say, but not exactly how to say it).

So what I'd like to do is compile a list of as many of the difficult or need-to-research questions. Here are some of the ones I've come up with (based on the questions I asked as a child). What are some of the questions you would add to this list?

1. Where do babies come from?
2. Why is the sky blue?
3. How do stop lights work?
4. What happens when you die?
5. Which one of us is your favorite?
6. Why do we need to breathe?
7. How come my friend has two mommies / two daddies?
8. Why did the dinosaurs die out? (I need to do some more reading into Bakker's theory before I go all in on the comet impact theory)
9. If you love me, why don't you do this for me / get me this / etc.?
Do you legitimately not know the answers to these questions?
 
If your worried about those...your gonna be in a lot of trouble =p
Not difficult to answer any of these to a peer, but I would like to put some thought into how to best explain things to little kids. What are some of the questions you think would be difficult to answer, if these ones are a piece of cake to put in little-kid terms?
 
I remember an awesome Louis CK bit about this. Just devolves into meta theories.
"Why?"
"Because some things are, and some things are not!"
"Why?"
"BECAUSE THINGS THAT AREN'T CAN'T BE!"
 
So we just had twins, and I'm starting to realize there are a bunch of things I'm not quite sure how I'll explain (either because I'm not sure on the specifics, or because I know what I want to say, but not exactly how to say it).

So what I'd like to do is compile a list of as many of the difficult or need-to-research questions. Here are some of the ones I've come up with (based on the questions I asked as a child). What are some of the questions you would add to this list?

1. Where do babies come from? The stork brings them.
2. Why is the sky blue? It's the stork's favorite color. Makes it fun for him to travel through.
3. How do stop lights work? Computers.
4. What happens when you die? You're still here in spirit.
5. Which one of us is your favorite? Both.
6. Why do we need to breathe? Because we do.
7. How come my friend has two mommies / two daddies? Some people love another daddy instead of another mommy.
8. Why did the dinosaurs die out? (I need to do some more reading into Bakker's theory before I go all in on the comet impact theory) They evolved into birds.
9. If you love me, why don't you do this for me / get me this / etc.? Just the honest answer of why you didn't. Also, just because I love you does not mean I can always give you what you want or what I want to, but I will always try.

Congrats on your twins! My suggested answers are bolded above.
 
Not difficult to answer any of these to a peer, but I would like to put some thought into how to best explain things to little kids. What are some of the questions you think would be difficult to answer, if these ones are a piece of cake to put in little-kid terms?

Why do we embrace the evils of fiat currency?
 
1. Where do babies come from?
-When a maaaaan loves a woman
2. Why is the sky blue?
-Chemtrails
3. How do stop lights work?
-Magnets
4. What happens when you die?
-"Let me show you"
5. Which one of us is your favorite?
-"Definitely not you"
6. Why do we need to breathe?
-Stop breathing and find out
7. How come my friend has two mommies / two daddies?
-Dayyyyuuuummm
8. Why did the dinosaurs die out? (I need to do some more reading into Bakker's theory before I go all in on the comet impact theory)
-"Wiki it"
9. If you love me, why don't you do this for me / get me this / etc.?
-"I don't love you that much"
 
So we just had twins, and I'm starting to realize there are a bunch of things I'm not quite sure how I'll explain (either because I'm not sure on the specifics, or because I know what I want to say, but not exactly how to say it).

What's wrong with being honest?

In cases where you don't know/no-one knows, say "some people believe this, others believe this, I believe this."

For questions that have a scientific answer, you say "why don't we find out?" and then look it up.

Sorted.

Edit: Re: "Which one of us is your favorite?" Both, obviously. The world isn't simple enough to choose between two options at times.

Thinking about tough questions I asked when I was a kid, probably believing in Santa/God, etc. My mum was straight-shooting. She said "Do you really want to know?" and told me Santa/the Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy/etc. were stories and that no-one knows for sure about God.
 
What's wrong with being honest?

In cases where you don't know/no-one knows, say "some people believe this, others believe this, I believe this."

For questions that have a scientific answer, you say "why don't we find out?" and then look it up.

Sorted.
It's not a matter of being honest or not - it's a matter of explaining things in terms children can understand. For example, for the question of why is the sky blue, I think it would be good for me to find a simply resource (online or a children's book or something) that explains things in easy terms for kids. The reason I posted here is to get a sense of what are some of the other types of questions to look into in my spare time.
 
It's not a matter of being honest or not - it's a matter of explaining things in terms children can understand. For example, for the question of why is the sky blue, I think it would be good for me to find a simply resource (online or a children's book or something) that explains things in easy terms for kids. The reason I posted here is to get a sense of what are some of the other types of questions to look into in my spare time.

dude just put it on the backburner until you have a way to explain it. these questions are pretty far in the future and some will probably never be asked.
 
So we just had twins, and I'm starting to realize there are a bunch of things I'm not quite sure how I'll explain (either because I'm not sure on the specifics, or because I know what I want to say, but not exactly how to say it).

So what I'd like to do is compile a list of as many of the difficult or need-to-research questions. Here are some of the ones I've come up with (based on the questions I asked as a child). What are some of the questions you would add to this list?

1. Where do babies come from?
2. Why is the sky blue?
3. How do stop lights work?
4. What happens when you die?
5. Which one of us is your favorite?
6. Why do we need to breathe?
7. How come my friend has two mommies / two daddies?
8. Why did the dinosaurs die out? (I need to do some more reading into Bakker's theory before I go all in on the comet impact theory)
9. If you love me, why don't you do this for me / get me this / etc.?

To be clear: The purpose of this thread is not to get tips on how to answer *these* questions. Rather it's to ask: What are some of the difficult questions your kids have asked you, or that you asked as a child?
And another clarification: I don't need help in how to answer the list above. Rather, I'm asking: What are some of the difficult questions your kids have asked you, or that you asked as a child?

If you think those are hard just wait till he asks one day something like:

"What's a rim job? And what's cum? This boy in my class, James, he was telling us he was looking at this video his older brother found and there was a rim job and cum in it. What is it?"
 
If you think those are hard just wait till he asks one day something like:

"What's a rim job? And what's cum? This boy in my class, James, he was telling us he was looking at this video his older brother found and there was a rim job and cum in it. What is it?"

Excellent - I'm adding this to the list. :)

Thinking about tough questions I asked when I was a kid, probably believing in Santa/God, etc. My mum was straight-shooting. She said "Do you really want to know?" and told me Santa/the Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy/etc. were stories and that no-one knows for sure about God.

Thanks! Adding this.

dude just put it on the backburner until you have a way to explain it. these questions are pretty far in the future and some will probably never be asked.

I actually like teaching / explaining things. This is a fun thing for me.
 
The sky is blue because the suns light reflects off of the particles in the atmosphere at the color blue. Grass is green because the suns light reflects off of the chemicals in the grass at the color green.
 
Honestly unless you are some bible thumper who thinks telling kids about sex/same sex couples will turn them into a gay sex machine most of these questions seem super easy or solved with a 5 second google search.
 
I think the toughest question for me was chatting with my daughters about sex. My wife thought I gave them too much details about the act and the things couples do to each other. But once I broke the ice, it was pretty easy. The key is that we're willing to answer any questions that they might have. Something I never was able to do with my parents.

I'm surprised at how many parents still don't tell their kids about sex in this day and age. Sometimes I feel like I'm some hippie parent when I'm definitely not.
 
I have a 3 year old nephew who is beginning to ask a lot of questions. The beauty in it is that he 3 years old, so his attention span is nearly nil. The other beauty in it is that he will forget that he asked a question, so you can just make things up each time. Eventually, they catch on, and go, "wait a minute..." and THEN you can tell them the truth and it'll stick.

Don't over think these things, OP. It's a scary thought, but it's just a thought. Once it starts happening to you it'll feel more natural and you won't be (as) nervous.
 
I think the toughest question for me was chatting with my daughters about sex. My wife thought I gave them too much details about the act and the things couples do to each other. But once I broke the ice, it was pretty easy. The key is that we're willing to answer any questions that they might have. Something I never was able to do with my parents.

I'm surprised at how many parents still don't tell their kids about sex in this day and age. Sometimes I feel like I'm some hippie parent when I'm definitely not.

How old were you daughters when you had to tell them about it?

I guess it's me also being a male, but I knew about sex long before my parents brought it up or we "learned" about it in school.
 
I teach fourth grade and get an endless barrage of questions of this nature from an entire class of children. If I don't know the answer, don't feel comfortable answering, or I'm just tired of answering 80000000 questions I'll fall back on "because I did/made/decided/thought of it". Going the "I am god and am the reason for everything" route works for me because it amuses myself and they obviously know I'm joking and are free to ask me again at a time when my brain isn't imploding.
Now that they all bring ipads to school I have an even better response though, since I can tell them to work on their research skills and look the answer up themesleves and then come confirm with me later.
 
I
I'm surprised at how many parents still don't tell their kids about sex in this day and age. Sometimes I feel like I'm some hippie parent when I'm definitely not.

The moment your kid even is able to physically have sex you should be telling them about sex. Waiting any longer is playing with fire. I lost my virginity when I was 12, I'm lucky my dumbass didn't get an std/become a father.

Also abuse victims who have been taught about sex are much more likely to report inappropriate shit going on.
 
Answer honestly and in simple manner. What a weird question, as if you never been a child before.
I totally agree about answering honestly and in a simple manner. However, I'm sure you agree with me that it still would benefit from a bit of forethought, no? For example, with the question of Santa Claus, I could see there being some thought put into whether there's value in maintaining the "illusion" or the "tradition." I went through that thought process and came out on the side of wanting to tell them the truth from the outset.

So in general your response is right - honestly and in a simple manner. It's the details of *how* that interest me, and part of that is getting a sense of some of the questions others have encountered. Hence, this thread.

tldr: It's not a weird question - the devil is in the details.
 
I teach fourth grade and get an endless barrage of questions of this nature from an entire class of children. If I don't know the answer, don't feel comfortable answering, or I'm just tired of answering 80000000 questions I'll fall back on "because I did/made/decided/thought of it". Going the "I am god and am the reason for everything" route works for me because it amuses myself and they obviously know I'm joking and are free to ask me again at a time when my brain isn't imploding.
Now that they all bring ipads to school I have an even better response though, since I can tell them to work on their research skills and look the answer up themesleves and then come confirm with me later.

Hehehe, so what are some of the more amusing questions you've come across?
 
Why are people different?

Seriously it stumps me when my kid asks question about race, citizenship, patriotism, poor vs. rich, homeless, etc. It's sad to tell your kid the world is fucked.
 
Hehehe, so what are some of the more amusing questions you've come across?

Mostly just variations of the standards really.
What are these two *insert animal here* doing to each other? Ummmmm....hugging each other.
What happens when we die? You become monkey gods and are given control of a solar system to rule.
What is god? Me.
John keeps grabbing his peepee during recess, why is he doing that? To make sure it's still there.
Why aren't you married? Because girls have cooties.
Why does frank keep picking his nose? Because he hid candy in his nose.
What does being drunk mean? Eat eighty boxes of candy and tell me how you feel.

I actually try to answer most of the questions truthfully, but sometimes I'm just too burnt out and those sarcastic responses come out instead.

The hardest questions really have to do with homelife issues like abuse and neglect or divorce and so on. Luckily we have a school counselor I can refer them to when a question deserves more than a silly response but I don't feel comfortable addressing it. I'll always make time during lunch or recess if a student needs to talk about something serious and doesn't want to talk to the counselor, but considering she is far more qualified to adress those kind of issues I try to direct my students to her as much as possible.
 
Mostly just variations of the standards really.
What are these two *insert animal here* doing to each other? Ummmmm....hugging each other.
What happens when we die? You become monkey gods and are given control of a solar system to rule.
What is god? Me.
John keeps grabbing his peepee during recess, why is he doing that? To make sure it's still there.
Why aren't you married? Because girls have cooties.
Why does frank keep picking his nose? Because he hid candy in his nose.
What does being drunk mean? Eat eighty boxes of candy and tell me how you feel.

I actually try to answer most of the questions truthfully, but sometimes I'm just too burnt out and those sarcastic responses come out instead.

The hardest questions really have to do with homelife issues like abuse and neglect or divorce and so on. Luckily we have a school counselor I can refer them to when a question deserves more than a silly response but I don't feel comfortable addressing it. I'll always make time during lunch or recess if a student needs to talk about something serious and doesn't want to talk to the counselor, but considering she is far more qualified to adress those kind of issues I try to direct my students to her as much as possible.
I appreciate you sharing - I can't imagine handling a classroom full of kids and understand why you resort to the "i am god / the source of all things" approach.
Seriously it stumps me when my kid asks question about race, citizenship, patriotism, poor vs. rich, homeless, etc. It's sad to tell your kid the world is fucked.
Man... explaining systemic racism / systemic inequality... hadn't thought of that...
 
"Why are you in a wheelchair"

Stalls my brain every time. Kids. :)

I've given so many different replies to this over the years. Truth and logic is almost never understood and worth the time until they are bit older and can comprehend more. I never understand how some people get really upset by this and can lose their temper at children because of it. :S
 
I've got two daughters, aged 7 and 10, who I've raised to not believe in anything supernatural. I'm not trying to turn this into some big atheist douchebag thread so we'll leave it at that.

To my ten year old it all comes naturally. She's the most natural skeptic I've ever seen. She wants to see proof for anything. I honestly think she'd be one even if I hadn't raised her that way. She's very smart, very analytical, and if I'm being honest a pretty calculating little chick.

My 7 year old is very smart also, but she believes in what she wants to believe in with little regard to reality. For example we've been over the origin of mermaid myths time and time again and she acknowledges them and yet still says she believes in mermaids because she wants to. Same situation with Santa. She's prone to not needing any sort of basis in reality to believe something. Perhaps it's a function of development.


Anyways, she had a friend whose family was very religious and were talking about heaven when she was spending the night once. When I had her a few weeks later she started asking me a bunch of questions about God and heaven and life after death. Now, I find this a particularly interesting area of discussion. One I'm well-equipped to have, but not with a 7 year old girl who actively seems to reject logic and reason.


So it starts out with her asking if we go to heaven when we die and I'm left here trying to explain to a little girl who steadfastly believes in mermaids about the finality of death. Trying to paint it as our bodies breaking down to their base materials to nourish other organisms and such. Likening it to a toy having it's batteries die.

So she's following me and all, and she's asking me a bunch of questions which is good if she's willing to accept reason. It's getting late and it's becoming a long, dark night of the soul for my poor youngest as she's asking all the tough questions and I'm trying to be as honest as a layman trying to sugar-coat harsh reality for his little girl can be.

Eventually she wants to know about the end of the world. So I try to explain to her about things like solar evolution in a way she'll understand and accept. So then she's all scared that the sun is going to get really big and bright and kill us all.

So I explain that this is like 100's of millions of years away and either humans will likely be a space-faring species by then so it won't kill ALL humans or Earth will be a long-dead, massive tomb with nobody around to even remember or care that we ever existed.

All with a comforting tone in my voice, trying to make it sound like the most natural and acceptable thing ever which I guess it is because there isn't a whole hell of a lot we can do about it.

This is the kind of conversation it's cool to have with your buddies when you are in your teens or twenties and baked out of your minds. Not so cool to have with your kids, but they keep pressing the issue and you want to be honest. I guess that's what I get for trying to encourage curiosity.
 
I appreciate you sharing - I can't imagine handling a classroom full of kids and understand why you resort to the "i am god / the source of all things" approach.

Man... explaining systemic racism / systemic inequality... hadn't thought of that...

I mean I actually enjoy explaining things, hence being a teacher. And I like feeling like I'm being honest with them when others maybe aren't. But man...sometimes you just hit question critical mass and you just can't do it anymore.
 
Personally, I'm going to be like Calvin's dad:

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At least is isn't Mandarin Chinese!

為什麼????

Pinyin = weishenme

Or you could have my kid, who is bilingual and all day every day it's:

為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why? 為什麼? Why?

P.S. I might be bragging a little
 
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