Questions about the meaning of life, why we are here.......

[adelicatequestion]

DD was very upset last night (she's nearly 13) wondering why are we here. What's the point to life. What are we here to do. Where is God, Why doesn;t he answer prayers, etc etc.

She was quite upset and crying because she didn;t know the answers.

Is this normal behaviour for pre teens. Do they start to question this stuff and why would she get so upset about it and not knowing the answers.

I think the issue of life and death is quite commen at that age. Maybe that in school they are doing ecosystems and life cycles.

As for the answers I would suggest just being honest and saying no-one knows the exact answer but I think that it may be because blah blah blah....and if you have a faith then you can bring that in. If you are not religious you could try the well some people think that it is because blah blah b;ah approach...or otherwise think science or try a historical approach ie we are here to look after the planet for the next generation to have a turn to enjoy all the wonderful things we have around us in nature

As for answering prayers, I suppose the typical answer is that we are not asking for the right thing. That never washed with me though. Would she be old enough to understand the bigger picture? We don't know the reason why our prayers aren't answered but maybe we will realise when we get older what the reason was.

Certainly with my 3 dc questions about life and death became quite a hot topic around pre teen years

Thank you.

I was getting quite worried about all the questions because she was getting upset.

The answer to why we are here is chocolate!

When I was your dd's age I used to sit on the stairs and cry about these things as well. 30 years later I'm still looking for the answers and a degree in theology and teaching RE haven't answered then for me yet. I've stopped crying though.

When I was that age I spent a lot of time crying about the end of the world and nuclear war. At least she isn't hiding it from you, but I would put the tears down to hormones and the questions as much part of rationalising why she is so upset/crying.