The Important Thing is to Not Stop Questioning

So, I'm driving the kids to the Moose's care this morning, and the Princess hits me with "Who were the first people?". I started trying to explain that this was a tough question, because there were lots of people around before they started writing things down. As a result, we have to use fossils to try and learn about where people came from, which of course leads to a very brief and high level discussion of evolution. She followed along and continued asking questions too, like when did people start having babies, things like that. I fielded everything as best I could, and she seemed satisfied.

So, going from the Moose's care to her school, the Princess was warning me that writing on my hand to remember things was becoming a habit now, which surprised me, because it was both accurate and pointed out that she seems to correctly understand the meaning of acquiring a habit. I explained that I needed a way to remember these things, because otherwise I say I'll do something and then forget (possible slipping in a hint that a smart phone that I would absolutely never wash with my pants would help break said habit and allow me to keep track of things properly). I cited the example of a few days ago, when I promised to find out what happened to Pluto now that it wasn't a planet anymore. I didn't remember that for a few days, and just yesterday discovered that it was downgraded to a dwarf or minor planet.

She told me that she had figured that when we decided Pluto wasn't going to be a planet anymore, we had pulled it down to the Earth and dismantled it or something, a far more poetic idea that the truth. So I started explaining that, while it may no longer be a planet, Pluto is still huge and very far away, and that people have never been there. I explained that we had never actually travelled to any planets, but we had sent machines that sent us information and pictures and stuff. I also told her that we had been to the moon, but that was it.

We discussed that we hadn't proceeded further with things like moon bases and space travel because people were too busy trying to agree about things here on Earth to plan things like that out. She asks for examples, so I launch into another very high level explanation of politics, about how all sorts of people in the world have all sorts of ideas about the best way to live, and since they don't agree, they sometimes fight about it. Upon further questioning, I explained that by "fight" I mean argue and whatnot, but yes, occasionally that means actually trying to beat each other up, which usually doesn't do anyone any good.

Finally, I say that with any luck, by the time she's a grown up, some of these arguments will be done with, and maybe she could even be an astronaut and be one of the people who goes to another planet if she wanted. She told me with complete confidence that no, she was going to be an artist. I mentioned that there were lots of kinds of artists, and she said she either wanted to draw pictures for books, or do the kind of art you put in a frame and sell. I start to tell her about other kind of artists, like graphic designers and whatnot, and she tells me that she knows about all that, but she likes her ideas better.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, I learned two things this morning. The first is that at some point (I'm thinking in the last few days maybe) my daughter became a brilliant and brutally inquisitive person who will pick apart the answers I give and volley them back at me until she's satisfied. This rocks, as I would much rather raise a person who isn't satisfied until she actually understands the answers given to her, as opposed to just accepting things people tell her. The other thing I learned is that I'm going to have to start drinking more coffee before I leave the house. I was not mentally prepared for that at all.

Someone break out the milk, cookies, and carpet squares. Daddy needs a nap.