Sunday, September 6, 2009

Questions and imagination

These days Chickie asks a lot of "What would happen if...?" questions.

"Chickie, don't be so rough with your brother; you'll hurt him."

"And what would happen if I hurt him? Would we have to go to the hospital?"

Some of these questions make sense; others don't. The ones that don't make sense tend to frustrate me, especially when I'm in a hurry.

Recently Chickie was obsessed with a tiny, dead lizard on our driveway. Every time we went out to the car, she'd make a detour to visit the lizard. She was doing this one day, as I (in a hurry, as usual) not-so-gently urged her to get in her carseat. She got in the car, and asked me,

"What would happen if it's not a lizard?"

"Chickie," I responded impatiently, "that question doesn't even make sense." I buckled her in and headed to my seat.

Then it hit me--sure, the question didn't make sense. But maybe she just wanted me to be imaginative.

"If it wasn't a lizard," I said as we backed out of the garage, "maybe it would be a dog!"

Chickie giggled. "No-o-o!" she said. "What else would it be?"

And we went on like that, with me suggesting other animals the lizard could be.

I'll admit freely that I often tell Chickie, "No more questions!" My patience isn't even close to being limitless. But I'm also trying to learn to use my imagination, to sometimes follow the flights of fancy that delight my daughter.

Hey, a few questions and a little imagination probably don't hurt this old brain, either.

8 comments:

LEstes65 said...

Cute. It can be a hard stage when you're just too exhausted for the exercise, though. I imagine that you, more times than not, rise to the occasion. Bless you, mommy.

Roban said...

That's cute. It sounds like the beginning of a book (kind of like "When You Give a Mouse a Cookie.") Good idea to follow her flights of fancy; you may enjoy it!

(I visited you a while back and had your address saved.) Now I know why!

2cats said...

Questions never seem to come when we actually have time for them. That is when we learn to make time.

InspiredDreamer said...

Kudos to you for stepping back from busy-ness for a second and recognizing the opportunity for creativity! It's so easy to forget that, isn't it?

Faith said...

My kids (3 of them anyway) often ask the "What would happen if..." questions. I have found that they usually have a guess or answer. When I am feeling tired of questions, I turn it back around on them.
"I don't know, what do you think would happen?" They have taken me places I never would have imagined.

Tales of Cheerios and Sleepless Nights said...

I really like this post! It's so easy for me to get caught up in being an adult - all the responsibility and things to do! - that it's hard for me to remember how fun it is to be a kid!

Our Scoop said...

Cute! Good for you to recognize that swiftly!! Kudos mommy!

Janna said...

I just linked to this! What a great alternative to huffing and ignoring the comment.

I think these are mostly attempts to converse with us even though the topic may seem a little whimsical to us they enjoy the exchange so much.