There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourse of men.
- John Locke
As a teacher I have always encouraged students to bring up questions to validate their understanding against all that they are taught to develop their own intellect and reference frames. Personally, I do believe that right set of questions relevant to the subject help students enrich their vision and thinking spectrum by leaps and bounds. Also as a mother, I have always tried stimulating Shaurya’s mind about the world around him and prompted him to question why certain things happen only a certain way and develop his own reasoning skills.
I guess people like me (young parents) do often land up in perplexing situations when their young ones bring up questions that though themselves simple have complex answers.
He is not any different from his contemporaries and his mind is also full of all kinds of queries and though I try and answer as many possible, these days I am often confounded by the questions my little prince has started putting up. I am trying to list as many as possible here for I am sure that it will make a very amusing read for both me and him a few years from now.
The question session is more like rapid fire....Shaurya keeps firing questions at me and I struggle to answer:
- Is it summer today?
- Why is it night now?
- Why so soon, why couldn’t it wait longer?
- Which flyover is this?
- Why do you drive the car? Are you a driver?
- Why are you going to school and I am not? (on the days he has an off and me being a teacher has to still go)
- Whom do you teach? Where is your class?
- Why do girls cry? (I still am finding a suitable reasonable answer to this)
- How does batman fly?
- What if someone gifts us a pet?
- When will I go to Da’Ma’shouse?
- Why didn't you make rajma chawal again today?
- Why don't you apply cream on your face?
- Why is car so strong..is it because it eats tori and ghiya (bitter gourd)?
- Why is it not monsoon season?
- When will I go to USA to meet Saanu and Zuwi (his cousins)?
- When will I grow up?
- Why did you keep me in your tummy when you knew I was inside? (Inviting suggestions from my readers to help me answer this)
- Why don’t girls have muscles and only boys have them? (I have tried reasoning it out that this isn’t true and both girls and boys have muscles in their body, but somehow his idea of muscles is bulging biceps for now and this more often than not leads him to get into an argument with me)
If this was not enough, a standard conversation goes more like the following:“How old are u? How old is daddy? How old is Baata? How old is Bunny bhaiya (his cousin)? How old is Yasho (his friend)? How old is RV? Oh..RV is 3 yrs old..just like Zuwi..no mamma, then Nishu is just 2 yrs..that’s not right!!! Why don't you celebrate my b'day more often so that I’m older than Saanu didi and become 9yrs old and then she calls me bhaiya (big brother)!!!”
I just hope Son, that on that day you do realize that as your mother I answered all your questions as many times as you asked without losing my patience with you. Let’s see, if you are just as patient with your mother then. 
October 16, 2012 at 10:27 AM
Good one.. just as ever.
Keep jotting down these questions as they come and make a sequel to this post in a few weeks. It will be very interesting to see the progression of these questions now.
Keep posting...