Difficult Question Of The Day (from dc): "You know when you dream? How does your head make the pictures?"

[notnowbernard]

From dd1, 5.3y

It had me stumped. Why are these sort of Qs always when you're in the car, thereby leaving you with nowhere to turn, forced to try and scrabble together some wholly inadequate response?!

Your brain just remembers pictures you have seen through your life and puts them together to make your dream. They come from the memory section and are lots of memories added together, it feels like you are making them, they are just memories that run together to make one dream, a bit like a movie.

How's this sound?

That sounds a whole lot better than the twaddle I fed her

never really thought about that darling what does x (her teacher) say?

What did you say?

I get these sorts of questions from ds so I'm well practiced at making up shit that sounds believable!

I mentioned the memories thing but she said her dreams are "all about things that have never happened to me before"

So I blabbered a bit about how some thoughts and memories only come up when we are asleep, we wouldn't think about them when we're awake (you know, the sub-conscious mind and all that). Think that might have satisfied a slightly older child but she didn't get it really

So then she went on more about how the head actually makes the pictures... at which point I told her only VERY VERY VERY clever people knew the answer to that (any neuroscientists about?!)

She said maybe a "wise old woman" would know the answer

They can also come from books/tv programmes/holiday places, so she might not remember them all, your brain just sticks them all together like a cake. A bit of this from this memory, a bit of this from a book etc. When you are asleep, your brain is just putting them into little boxes (some to keep, some you don't need). Tell her to close her eyes and think of what you look like. She'll rember because your picture's in her head. The eyes see the picture then send it you your brain, your brain stores it (complicated bit, by making a neuron, which is a electronic connection).

I'm not old. I'm 31!

I told my son (when asked what a dream was) that it was like reading a book for the first time, with lots of pictures ... you don't know what's gonna happen next. He seemed quite happy with it.

See, I thought of doing something like that when ds asked what Tampax was. It didn't work

I'll tell her I found a wise old woman on the computer

Seriously though, thanks, your answers are helpful

She is asking a lot of tricky ones atm. I have had the Tampax one too!

It's OK. I'M NOT OLD!!!! Just full of useless information.

I did end up telling him (after 2 years of questions), then he said " Gross! I really wish you hadn't told me" He's not talked about it since though

I am 31 too, so ABSOLUTELY NOT OLD!!

Our Tampax chat resulted in a full-on talk about baby making

An improvement on the one we'd had about a yr before when I tried to fob her off with talk that it was to cure a "poorly tummy"

She went on to ask if you stuck it in your belly-button Felt I HAD to be more honest after that!

DD2 is 2.3 and thinks they're those Goodies fruit bar things

Haaaa!
The 'they are things for girls' worked for all of two minutes until he could read

I got "is God a real person?" the other day from dd just 5, I was struggling with answering this when she got bored and body checked me with "and why do you say I've got a builders bottom when my trousers are falling down?"....

YES! I am getting loads of religious questions as well

Who is God? What does God look like?

Do we believe in God? Why don't you believe in God, Mummy? Why do other people believe in God then?

Ahh, I solved this one. My friend told ds that 'Jedi' is now a recognised religion due to the last census so he's announced to the school etc that his religion is 'Jedi'!

Just be as honest as you can but simplify it, you'll never go wrong!