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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think toddlers ask the most wonderful but unanswerable questions?

115 replies

doradaisy · 24/06/2011 14:54

Here are a few of my best ones from DD age 3 and 3 quarters:

'Why don't sheep have heels mummy?'

'Do wolves like eating raw bacon?'

'Why is fire hot?'

:)

OP posts:
kenobi · 24/06/2011 14:56

I can answer two of those for you if you like? Wink

My favourite was "Why is the sky?" Not why is it blue or whatever, just 'why'.

That got me...

doradaisy · 24/06/2011 14:57

or and another for all you botanical experts out there 'how do you make a back garden?'

OP posts:
hatwoman · 24/06/2011 14:57

why are there people?

hatwoman · 24/06/2011 14:57

where is my birthday?

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 24/06/2011 14:57

My DS asked what he came out of......my tummy or my bum hole!!!!!! I had to lie and tell him tummy, he will be traumatised when he finally realises where he came out of :)

MsTeak · 24/06/2011 14:59

They aren't unanswerable at all. Why not try answering their questions, they are trying to learn.

FreudianSlipper · 24/06/2011 15:01

ds is the same age

he has a fascination on how animals cry and are sick. how do snakes cry, i couldn't answer

mistressploppy · 24/06/2011 15:02

Oh, MsTeak, that's a little mean.

itisnearlysummer · 24/06/2011 15:03

Is Foucault a planet?

Does God have a winkle?

itisnearlysummer · 24/06/2011 15:03

Ok. I can answer the first.

itisnearlysummer · 24/06/2011 15:04

And probably the second too...

doradaisy · 24/06/2011 15:05

Of course we try Ms Teak!

'Unanswerable' in the figurative sense, as in difficult to answer.

Tut tut, not very up on the old rhetoric, are we??
;)

OP posts:
MsTeak · 24/06/2011 15:06

Why is it mean? Confused

"Do wolves like eating raw bacon"? Talk about what wolves eat, not difficult. "How do you make a back garden?" not hard to explain that you add on a bit of empty land when you build a house, and put flowers/trees etc in it.

I'm not being mean, I just don't get why you wouldn't. Of course they ask questions you maybe can't answer, but most of these are not them.

MsTeak · 24/06/2011 15:07

and unanswerable doesn't mean difficult to answer in any sense, "figurative" or otherwise. Hmm

itisnearlysummer · 24/06/2011 15:09

I think MsTeak it's not that they're unanswerable, just that they sometimes sound a little confused or just funny coming out of such a small person, or that they are just questions we wouldn't think to ask.

It's just nice to be reminded of the innocence and curiosity of children.

Sometimes they ask questions that can be answered but it's not always easy to answer them the way a 3 year old would understand.

itisnearlysummer · 24/06/2011 15:10

And it's amusing to have a little insight into their thoughts and what's been puzzling them today!

doradaisy · 24/06/2011 15:11

ok, ok Ms Teak.

I should have titled the post 'interesting AND sometimes unanswerable questions' toddlers ask.

was just prompting for a light-hearted post to find out about other questions toddlers might ask gawd dammit!!

how on earth would you know how/if/in what manner or detail I attempted to answer them??

lighten up!!

OP posts:
philmassive · 24/06/2011 15:11

What's inside grass?

Er... more grass?

MsTeak · 24/06/2011 15:11

yes I agree, summer. I have a 3 year old, and he's delicious. I love talking to them at that age, they are so interested in everything, its great.

knittedbreast · 24/06/2011 15:12

Mrs Teak-i challenge you.
"Whats god made from"

go on. im waiting :)

kirsty12321 · 24/06/2011 15:12

The little Boy I look after today saw a black man, at three years old this man was obviously not the first black person he had seen but probably the first he had paid attention to, pointing and shouting 'why that's mans skin all brown? Is he really dirty?!' when I (and kindly the man in question!) explained it to him we got the reply 'I don't believe his skin is not dirty, because his hands are not'
Thankfully this man was very understanding and helped me explain.. Red faced on the bus!

CadleCrap · 24/06/2011 15:12

Wow, just wow! A fab example of how to extract all fun from a humourous thread.

GypsyMoth · 24/06/2011 15:12

'is that the receipt for me?' ....(looking at his birth certificate)

and

'where do the stars go in the daytime?'

MsTeak · 24/06/2011 15:14

"Whats god made from"
Very simple in my house..."nothing darling, its a story other people like, its not real".
Smile

itisnearlysummer · 24/06/2011 15:14

I love it when they ask a really serious questions and you think how on earth am I going to answer that, and then just as you've thought of a great answer they ask you if you think Daleks smell of sausages or something equally bizarre.

It's when they are at their best!