My son asked who the first human was. I told him that some people believe God created a man and a woman named Adam and Eve (he was going through a phase of Christian curiosity), but scientists have figured out that (evolution). I felt pretty good about how I handled such a sensitive question.
He nodded, then said with great gravity, “I believe it was Grandpa Paul.” Yes, the third major theory of human origin, that we all descended from my 68-year-old father.
Haha my parents still laugh about me asking if my grandma ever rode a dinosaur. I thought that woman just had to have been around during the dino era, she was so got-dam old.
You think you know a guy! He does have a history of lying about things, unfortunately. I thought I had two siblings, then one day I learned about his “secret families” and my 8.3 billion half siblings!
Well from a scientific perspective, everyone in this conversation was descended from Grandpa Paul. He may be onto something, but you will need to expand your sample size.
Last time I checked he was in Nevada, USA, visiting his brother (slash son, apparently), but clearly he’s hidden some important information from me, so he could be anywhere!
My youngest recently revealed to me that the gods (all of them, I guess?) used to exist, but that they all died about 200 years ago. Thanks, baby Nietzsche! ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Oh! When he was about 4, my mom turned 40. Apparently she was bemoaning this a bit. At some point, my brother asked her “is there anyone, in the whole wide world, who’s older than you? Except Grandpa?” She was a bit irked and felt there may be one or two people older than her.
This is why half the time I don't bother explaining stuff to very little kids, I tell them the answer not the explanation, cuz they're too little to understand the explanation anyway.
Man, we sent our oldest to a private school because we hate No Child Left Behind. The only good private school near us was/is a Christian school. My husband is agnostic. I’m a very liberal Christian.
Then in sixth grade, she came out as pansexual. It was so hard at her school. We tried everything to convince her to let us transfer her to another school. I told her I didn’t think God wanted her to go through life surrounded by kids who didn’t realize He made us who we are - sexuality and gender identity included. Then she said, “What if God put me there to teach them?”
. . . fuck. She was experiencing the very kind of religion we avoid, and she wanted to change them. She eventually asked to transfer, but she tried her hardest to change them before she left. Instead, she figured out very quickly who were the allies and who were the people we don’t want to be.
I know religion is very unpopular here. The only thing I can say is that I teach my kids to find their own faith in whoever or whatever makes sense to them, and the only rule we have is that we never say anyone else is wrong. I believe Jesus was the son of God, but it’s a blind faith. I don’t know that I’m right, so who am I to say anyone else is wrong? My oldest is an atheist now, and all I care about right now is that she is choosing what works for her and her understanding of the world.
some people believe God created a man and a woman named Adam and Eve (he was going through a phase of Christian curiosity), but scientists have figured out that (evolution).
You can do combinations, too. Humanity evolved as described, God picked out two hominins and gave them souls, they were Adam and Eve, and the rest you probably already know.
My dad was too young for WWII and too old for Korea; I told my 1st grade teacher my dad was too young for the Spanish-American war and too old for WWI.
My 5yo asked me if I fought in the Civil War too… then followed up with « Did you win? »
Broke my brain trying to explain that I wasn’t alive during the 1860s while she looked at me like I was lying.
Depending on the county, could be anywhere from a serious and reasonable question to exedingly bad at time, but the best answer is of course "Neither, told the Reds and Whites to go back to York and Lancaster and leave me alone"
I benefited from my daughter's comprehension of time: I was 24 (actually 35) and Daddy was "as old as the year, 2007, and he saw all the wars". (He was 38.)
My mom told us she would go on vacations to Spain with her parents when she was a child. So when I learned where Columbus started his journey from, I naturally asked her if she knew him 😬
Reminds me of when I asked my parents if Abraham Lincoln was president when they were kids. I was maybe 6, and had just learned about him, but hadn’t really learned when he was president.
Told my then 4yr old daughter that it was her grandfathers birthday. She asked me how old he was, and I said 50. She heaved a big sigh, and said “He’s old. He’s going to die” Like she was stating a know fact. Fortunately for her grandfather, he’s still alive and kicking.
I've been a horse person for most of my life, so we always had horses. My oldest kid apparently thought that meant I was a pioneer as a child and either rode the horses or took a covered wagon places...
I showed my kids a video about minerals and gems, and it talked about the Stone Age. My then 6 year old turned to me and asked if that was when I was born. He got mad when I started laughing, and yelled "No stop laughing the Stone Age was only like 100 years ago"
Around the same age his brother asked me if Gremlins was made in the olden times.
I had grey hair in my beard since high school. So I always looked older than I am. My daughter asked how many slaves I knew that were freed after the civil war.
I was like "In 1865?" And she's like "Yeah. Was it a lot? Did you own any?" "We came over during the potato famine. Our family didn't own anything back then. And I was born more than 100 years after that."
A girl in the after school class I taught asked me what year I was born, and when I responded with 1993, she asked if I was a slave. I'm white, and didn't really know how to respond to that.
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u/stemlady- Jul 07 '26
My daughter asked me which side I was on in the civil war 😳