The following dialogue was taken from a recent dinner table conversation, which I guess is a better place than the bathroom for asking those deep questions that rattle around the mind of a six year old.
Kindergartner: I wonder who the first person here was?
Me: You mean here? At the table? I think it was your brother.
Kindergartner: No I mean Here. Like Earth. Like if a baby was here first who were the parents who borned it? Because everyone has a parent. So then the baby wouldn't be first.
Me: Huh.
[really? we're really having this conversation with our 6 year old over plates of chicken parmigiana?]
Kindergartner: So who was the first person here? And how did they get here?
[apparently, yes, we are]
Daddy: Well, a lot of people have asked that very same question.
Kindergartner: So? What's the answer?
Daddy: Well, people have different answers. It depends on what you believe.
Kindergartner: What do you believe?
Daddy: I believe that we evolved.
Kindergartner: What does evolved mean?
Daddy: It means that we started out as something else and over many many years turned into the humans we are now.
Kindergartner: What?
Daddy: Well, like you know apes? We sort of came from them.
Kindergartner: Monkeys? Like Curious George? We came from George?!?
Me: Have you ever heard of cavemen?
Kindergartner (beats his chest): Me. Tarzan.
Me: Exactly, well, we started out as cavemen a long long long time ago.
Kindergartner: Where did they live?
Me: Caves.
Kindergartner: Did the dinosaurs eat them?
Me: No, dinosaurs weren't alive at the same time as cavemen.
Kindergartner: Did the cavemen kill them?
Me: No, they just became extinct.
Kindergartner: Why?
Me: The climate changed. The just all died. Do you want to talk about cavemen some more?
Kindergartner: Ok, so what did they wear?
Daddy: Animal skins.
Kindergartner: What?!? Animal skins?!
Me: Well, they had to wear things they could find outside.
Kindergarten: Couldn't they have just gone to the store and got something there?
Me: No. They didn't have stores. Or money. Or credit cards. Or cars. Or any fashion sense at all.
Kindergartner: How did they get through the long winters?
Daddy: Well, they hunted. And gathered. They gathered berries!
Kindergartner: Did they hunt dinosaurs?
Me: No, remember the dinosaurs were extinct.
Kindergartner: Oh, yeah. Did they have words?
Daddy: They made up new words when they needed to describe something.
Me: And they drew pictures on their cave walls.
Kindergartner: Where'd they get the paint?!?
Daddy: Well, if you had to find a way to make paint, what would you do?
Kindergartner: Ask mom?
Daddy: If you had to find something colorful outside, in nature, to make paint, what would you use?
Kindergartner: Flowers?
Daddy: Yep, or berries.
Kindergartner: Oh, like, blueberries for blue and strawberries for red.
Me: Exactly.
Kindergartner: Oh.
Me: So does that make sense to you? That over time we changed and eventually evolved into the humans we are today.
Kindergartner: Yeah, that makes sense.
Me: Great. You had some excellent questions.
Kindergartner: Yeah. So, I wonder who the first person on Earth was?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
More Kindergartner Thoughts
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27 comments:
Oh my God, that is a classic! I remember having that sort of conversation with my son. Then months later he asked about God and we told him what some people believe about God and Adam and Eve, etc. He loved it! "Well, I like it a lot better than that MONKEY THING!" was his reason. And when you think about it, God's Adam and Eve really would be more comforting to a child!
Holy moly...keeping you on your toes!
Hah! I love these conversation! What came first, the chicken or the egg? Brilliant kid you got there.
Maybe you should give him "Origin of the Species" for his next birthday!
He is going to ask Who is on first next!!! What a full circle...too cute! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, that is so typical of the conversations that we have around here! Usually, though, ours takes place in the car! And my husband is rarely there and if he is passes the buck right to ME! Good responses. I think this little guy is a curious one!
Excellent!
Love the way the little minds work.
I've been getting barraged by conversations like that. I have an intimate relationship with Google and Wikipedia.
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Telling him cavemen lived in caves had me cracking up for some reason. It reminded my of the brain teaser, "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?"
How circular of you! And them!
You gotta love kids! What a great conversation. I was hit with a few of these type questions immediately upon waking up this morning. I did not have such thought out answers :)
LMAO... that was perfect. And he remembered his original question. How precious.
LOVE it.
Ack! Better your table than mine!
I lived this almost exact conversation with my 6 year old. Scary how deep they think and the answers are hard to come up with. You and your husband sure did a good job.
That was great - your husband is so patient - poor naive soul thinking he could satisfy a kindergartener's questions!
My brain hurts after that ... they don't miss a thing, do they?!
I think your son is a mini-genius.
Curious George cracks me up.
oh my god. i cried a little bit at the end. these kindergarteners. oy.
At what point did your head fall into the chicken parm?
I love these conversations.
So, who WAS the first person on the Earth?
These are the kind of conversations that make me want to bang my head against a wall.
Wow.
While you're at it, which came first? Chicken or egg?
Don't you jus wonder how their little minds tick?
Such a cute dialogue!
That was great. I want to have dinner at your house!
Philosopher in the making... Wow.
Oh I love these conversations....I especially love the paint query!
PS
Did you read the Nuns this month?
Hen
I remember telling my husband that I would always answer every single question and never pull the "b/c I said so" card.
And then the "whys" started!
Great answers---I get totally confused by this question whenever it comes up.
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