Children ask lots of questions. And that is great because that's how our minds grow and develop at an early age. They ask questions like, "Why do birds fly?" or "How does a fish swim?". A few children like to ask about the future. One day, a child came up to my friend and asked questions like, "What is college and work life like?", "What does it feel like to be all grown up?, and "What is my purpose on this planet?". This took him by surprise, given that the child was only around seven years old. He politely asked the child for a moment to think about it. The child nodded and proceeded to play on one of the swingsets.
Photo by Hoang-Loc Dang from Pexels
Then, he turned to me and said, "Quite frankly, there are just too many factors that you can't break down into simple concepts for a child to understand with their level of experience, in my opinion. Everything has to be broken down into comparisons or analogies based on experiences that they have had in the recent past. The problem is that a child's view of the world is mostly based on a very general and idealized picture of what is happening. If she wants what is really going on, I'll need to introduce a new basis of understanding - then build from that understanding."
I replied, "That is true, but can't you give her a fun answer that she will accept now? She will eventually grow out of that as she gains more of the world through her peers, the textbooks, and the schools that she goes to. Everyone matures at some point. Here, I'll give you a simple example. Think of the times when you were a child. You believed in Santa Claus didn't you?"
He nodded and said, "Yes, and I still do."
"Well, um, really? Ok, let's move on to another example", I replied, uncertain of what to say next.
After a few moments, I continued, "Let's say that you were told that there was nothing higher than basic math. Then, you moved forward and decided that you wanted to take engineering. With each class that you go to, the professor may introduce some new things here and there that will eventually make you realize that there is much more to math than addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. So, the same applies to the child in my opinion. Give her something fun to think about."
My friend started at me for what seemed like forever and finally said, "Ok, I got you. I'll talk to the girl."
I nodded and watched as he said, "Hello! I think I have the answer for you!"
The little girl nodded and ran up to him, "Life is full of colorful things. What color do you like?"
"Pink and yellow", she said happily.
"Awesome! Now, pink and yellow are different paths in life. You can take the pink path or you can take the yellow path. Which one do you choose?"
"PINK!", she said after thinking for a few seconds.
"Good choice! You see! That's what we grown-ups do, we make choices. Each choice leads to a different path with different results."
The girl said, "Oh! What happens if I went down the blue path?"
A young boy nearby who happened to overhear the conversation hollered, "Blue is only for the boys!"
Hello @cryptobluebird,
This is a lovely essay. However, is this an essay or a story? We only curate fiction in the Ink Well. Would you please clarify? Thank you.
Hello @theinkwell! I'm glad you enjoyed my story! This is a fictional story that is loosely based on some of my own experiences. My intention was to write a story about adults and children with a moral. The moral of the story was that there are different ways that people could view teaching a child about life. There is elegance in simplicity sometimes.
Thank you for the clarification.
This is a charming little story, with some really fun touches of humor, @cryptobluebird.
These lines of dialog made me laugh out loud:
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