Sometimes life can be difficult in a house with a three-year-old-preschooler and an almost-thirty-year-old-physicist. They want to have conversations, and, yet, at times, it seems they just can't get on the same plane... Tonight at the dinner table, I witnessed one such discussion:
Preschooler: Why is the sky the sky?
Physicist: Well, what is the sky....?
The sky is air.
Preschooler: Why?
Physicist: You know, sometimes, "why" is not a good question... it's not a well-formed question, appropriate for the....
At this point, the physicist continues on with reasons as to why the question of "why" is insufficient, while the preschooler rolls his eyes, makes faces, and starts naming words that rhyme with both "sky" and "why."
My poor son. Most Dads probably feel bad that they don't know the answers to the questions their children ask. And then there are the children, like my son, who probably feel bad that their fathers do know the answers--because after about a minute, these children no longer really care.
ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteStart with explaining the atmosphere.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0040-introduction-to-our-atmosphere.php
is a good place to start. Talk about layers of air, chemicals, molecules, percentages, and densities.
Give the child all the information they want. And by the time they are four they will either know it all, or have learned to not ask questions. My kids know why the sky is blue, what oxygen is, and more about water than most adults. It works well.
Thanks for the link, Liana! It looks really fun! And I think it will be a great way to approach the sciences--my husband isn't always good at taking it to a young child's level. :-P Tonight he had my three year old watching Feynman lectures!! Too funny!!
ReplyDeletehttp://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/#data=3%7C72036f54-7e17-4435-b972-a18050d5828b%7C%7C
ha ha lmbo i just read "Wrong Questions" 4 times and laughed every time ;) thanks for the smile sis!!!
ReplyDelete