Because I’m the monitor/aide on a bus for special needs kiddos, sometimes I get asked questions. Sometimes…I have no answers to those questions.
Such as:
IS it really racist to say that an inflatable black dragon Halloween lawn ornament the size of a small car is black? (Yes one of my kiddos chastised another, who happened to be younger, for calling a giant black inflatable dragon black because it IS black and seemed totally mystified when I said that it’s ok to call a black animal black if that’s what color it is.)
and
What is the EXACT percentage of chance that the bus will be hit by lightning on the way to school during a massive thunderstorm? (Same kid as the ‘it’s racist to call a black dragon black ‘ question and I had no idea, but I reassured him that we probably wouldn’t be hit by lightning. At least not until AFTER we dropped him off at school.)
and
How do cows know grass is good to eat? (I have no idea, but I’ve watched MANY episodes of The Incredible Dr. Pol and apparently cows are smart, but also REALLY dumb because they will ingest bits of metal, which ends up ripping open their insides and causing a massive headache for both farmer and vet.)
and
If it’s dark in the morning, does that make it technically STILL night time?
(No. Technically it’s morning but it might be REALLY dark because it’s raining cats and dogs, like it was this morning when it was raining so hard you could barely see the road.)
My own kid was not a big question asker when he was younger…he mostly would just go Google what he needed to find out because it was easier than asking me and me trying to come up with an explanation, I suppose. Also…kids want to know the answers to the weirdest things, but that’s pretty much par for the course.