Making It Up As You Go Along

  I was walking out of the mall after a playdate with my friend and her 16-month-old boy. My girls were constantly asking, "What's that?" and my friend was amazed that I kept coming up with answers. I told her that at some point, as a parent, you just get really good at making stuff up. 

The real challenge is to give them the needed information in language they understand. One day, J asked me how babies are born. I thought for a second and said, "Doctors help the babies get out of their mommies' tummies." She thought for a second and went on her way. (I have no idea what I'll say when she asks me how the babies get in their to start with.)

The thing I try to remember (especially if I'm grumpy and the questions just will not stop) is that I have 30+ years of experience and learning and the girls have only four or five. Things that are clear to me are concepts they haven't encountered yet. Like when we were leaving the mall. I know what a loading dock is, but the girls have never really thought about how the stuff we buy gets into the stores. Or how people get to the top of Thanksgiving Day parade floats when there are no visible stairs. Or how the flapper in the toilet works.

Sometimes, I just get stumped. I'll know the answer but will have no way to tell them in a way they'll understand. So I just wing it. Yesterday, the girls asked me how water is made. The best I could come up with was "You take two hydrogen atoms and add them to an oxygen atom." 

And, somehow, they accepted it. I'm sure they'll ask me what an atom is soon. Is there a babelfish for "science to preschooler"?