Before I had children I swore I would always answer their questions properly instead of saying any old rubbish to shut them up.

[isaidno]

But this week I am beginning to suffer from brain drain.
DS1 wants to know...
how do cars work?
why don't ants ever grow up?
why does the day change at midnight?
why is the sky blue?

and my personal fave - what are bee's knees made of?

So what requests for information do you receive from your dc?
(And do you attempt to answer?!!)

I always say..'Why do you think....?'. then they answer it themselves.

ok; so I am trying to be too clever to impress my dc?

I am pg again and after dd's initial excitement (she's 4), she immediately asked: "How did the baby get in your tummy?"

So I said: "Mummy has an egg and Daddy has a seed and together they made the baby."

She thought about that one and asked: "So how did the seed get in your tummy?" I told her: "Mummy and Daddy have a special cuddle and that's when it happens." (I'm not a fan of euphemisms generally, but she is only 4!)

She thought some more and said: "So will you and daddy show me how you do the special cuddle?"

Needless to say, we politely declined...

I am pg again and after dd's initial excitement (she's 4), she immediately asked: "How did the baby get in your tummy?"

So I said: "Mummy has an egg and Daddy has a seed and together they made the baby."

She thought about that one and asked: "So how did the seed get in your tummy?" I told her: "Mummy and Daddy have a special cuddle and that's when it happens." (I'm not a fan of euphemisms generally, but she is only 4!)

She thought some more and said: "So will you and daddy show me how you do the special cuddle?"

Needless to say, we politely declined...

"because they do/are/will/have/want to/won't"delete as appropriate.

Is my answer to nearly eveything... sometimes depending on the question my answer is "it can be whatever you want it to be"

"because it just is"
"because it just does"
"because I said so"
"i don't know"
(pretend to be asleep)

Have used all of the above.

ooh thats a hard question, I know, why don't you ask daddy

Mmmm thats a difficult one sweetheart Im not really sure...I know lets ask grandad.

Phones grandad....Grandad bores him sensless with 1/2 hour explanation while I come on mumsnet

Once my xp spent a good 10 minutes explaining in detail how a steam engine works (to answer the question "why is smoke comming out of that tractor")..

...she listened, nodded, listened, looked interested...

.. he finally ended the 'lecture', she looked at him completely dead pan shrugged and said "so"

(you had to be there, it was hilarious)

I do often resort to "ask Daddy!" He told ds that bee's knees were part of the bees exoskeleton. He also said that the material used for bees knees must be pretty excellent.

DS1 (4, nearly 5)'How do you kill bees?'
Me (thinks for a moment about what approach to take)'I don't think it's nice to kill bees, so I wouldn't'
DS1 'But HOW would you do it if you did?'
Me 'I don't know'

Thinks for a while and then in a very loud voice in the middle of supermarket- 'I spose if you wanted to kill bees you could stamp on them really hard, I'll try it'.

So you see, not answering so they have to work it out for themselves is good for their investigative/ early science skills

Yes, I knew I'd lost my 'patient mother' label the day DS asked me what a moustache was for and I wearily told him 'it's for tashing your musses'.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure Daddy will know. You can ask him when he gets home"

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