I am fascinated with Sarah and Samuel as I observe them and listen to them. Why? Because they are epitomes of unadulterated learning. Their questions about life are unchecked, unaltered but hungry, honest, sincere, perpetual (haha) and really display intelligible inquisitiveness. I think that's how God meant it to be - for children to be natural learners, curious about the world around them.
During one of our long journeys in the car just before her 4th birthday, Sarah was just staring out of the window and she asked, "Mommy, why is the sky blue?" You would have guessed that her mommy who have lived 3 decades more would have known the answer. I tried furiously to dig into the recesses of my mind to see if I remembered - I think it was something to do with wavelength and colors and hue...Finally, after some quiet mental debating in my mind, I conceded and told her, "Sarah, that's a very good question. And Mommy doesn't know. Let me find out about it".
When I did finally sit down and googled, I was surprised. I thought that google would simply reconnect a part information in my brain which was lost through the tonnes of other information [relevant or irrelevant] in my mind and resurrect something which I forgot. But as I read through various searches, I realized that the answer to this question is nothing short of complex and it was new to me. It was a combination of understanding what the atmosphere is made up of, the colors that make up white light and wavelength. I read again and again to understand it enough to explain it to my 4 year old. It was tough. I realize that a complete explanation would entail enough information for a lapbook lesson. [I am trying to come up with a 'Why the Sky is Blue' lapbook for Sarah]
That question did a few things to me. Firstly, it made me go on a trip down memory lane about my own education. I heard this question many times - but almost everytime, I dismiss it. Why didn't I find out the answer? Why wasn't I even interested to find out? Why didn't I ask the question myself? Disturbing thoughts...Perhaps, somewhere along the line in my growing up, my curiosities were suppressed, my questions found no answers through limited resources....I really don't know. But I know that 'I Stopped Asking' and thus I really stopped learning.
Observing Sarah and Samuel go about in their world is a breath of much needed fresh air for me and it always causes me to reflect. I only hope that I would be able to provide them the space and encouragement to exercise their mental muscles of inquisitiveness and enquiring, in their lifelong journey of understanding and living in the vast world that God has created.
One night, Sarah in her pre-dawn stupor looked at me and asked, "Mommy, why does the sky turn dark?" I now no longer settle at the answer, "The Sun has Set". But explain to her, that the earth turns slowly around a point and where we are in this part of the earth, we have turned away from the sun. And the earth will continue to revolve till we meet the sun again, and that is when morning comes again.
And yet another night, she asks, "Mommy, why does the earth turn around?" In other words, why does the earth spin on its axis? For that, I can only say, "Because God made it so". To that, Sarah says, "Oh. thank you mom" And she goes off to sleep.
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