Questions

How do people make houses?

Are ghosts in real life?

Why did Nana die? 

My kids ask a lot of questions. “Why” is one of their favourite words, and one of their favourite times to ask questions is at 8pm when they should be falling asleep. All their best, most important questions seem to come out during bedtime, which is great, but also frustrating. By that time of day I am tired and I want them to fall asleep, not become little philosophers and theologians! But then I find that when we have some time during the day and I ask them if they have any questions or things they want to talk about, they can’t think of them.

I want to talk with my kids about important things, but I’d much prefer to have those conversations earlier in the day. That is what prompted me to make a “Question Time” poster—a page of prompts to help them remember some of the big questions that they want to talk about. I chose nine topics that often come up in their questions, and depicted them with a simple picture and a word or short phrase:

• Sad: What makes them feel sad? There have been a lot of sad emotions to process lately, as the boys grieve the death of their Nana and “GG” (Great Grandma). I want to make sure I give them opportunities to process their grief.
• Angry: Little kids have big feelings! Helping them find ways to talk about their angry feelings is really important to me.
• Scared: From ghosts to monsters, my kiddos have big imaginations, and it can be quite the task to sort out what is real and what is not.
• The Bible: The kids enjoy Bible stories, and there is so much to be curious about in them. I keep learning more too!
• Jesus: I am so thankful that both of my kids love Jesus, and they want to learn more about him. I want my kids to know that it is always okay to ask questions about Jesus and our faith.
• Death and Heaven: There are a lot of questions about death and heaven these days. Even though there is so much that I don’t understand, I’m glad that I can talk with my kids about it.
• Boys and Girls: Another topic that my kids have lots of questions about. Whether it’s where babies come from, transgender family friends, or what it means to be married, I want them to know that they can always come to me with their questions.
• Curious: From cars to planets to bugs and everything in between, there is so much that they want to know about! And when they ask about something I don’t know, we all go learn from YouTube together.
• Hopes and Plans: Our family is in a temporary, transitional phase of life right now, and there is a lot of talking about “where we will live someday” and what our new home might be like.

I am constantly amazed by the unusual and thought-provoking questions that kids come up with. What an amazing gift to be one of the people that my children turn to when they want to know more about the world!

If you have kids, have you used something like this before? What kinds of unexpected questions have they asked? Are there any topics you would add to my prompts list?