In the time I have been off ATS...the 40th anniversary of the moon landing happened. This is a sensitive subject at my place. I was raised to question everything. My spouse--not so much. After several arguments that sadly degenerated into screaming matches, we have agreed to never discuss it with each other again. Much like 9/11, we are going to talk to the kids in our own time about our own POV and let them consider it. Very grand sounding, eh?

One day, I was disgruntled at one of the ads on TV about reliving the historic moment...so I shut it off with an under the breath comment about 'not again, more stories' and the kids heard me. Of course they did...so I got questioned. 'What story, Ma?' and so on until I came to the point where I said in a few years when you have gained some critical reasoning skills we will discuss this. Until then, go play.

Being my children, they went off to whisper in a bedroom and came to ask me more questions. I refused to answer. She leveled me with a stare and said....just answer one thing, yes or no and I won't pester you about it until I'm older. (Yeah, right!)

Mom, is the MOON FAKE?

LMAO. Other than a 'no, I'm pretty sure the moon is real,' I wandered off content in the knowledge that my children have taken 'question everything' to a whole new level. Anyone else have astounding experiences with minions?

One more question/point....has anyone else considered banning Wiki from kids who are too smart? My son used the word 'vulva' the other day and informed me that he was looking up the thing at the back of your throat. (uvula)....

He's 7! HELP ME!

You refer to your kids as minions? heh... If my kids asked if the moon was real I'd get a telescope or binocs and ask em to tell me if it was real, yes and no isn't always the best answer, being curious and asking tons of questions isn't a bad thing, Einstein asked his dad how a compass worked and his dad couldn't tell him, which led him to asking what is time? on and on, but I can see where asking too many questions could be a problem, when the answer is an opinion.

Supposedly 50% of doctors use wikipedia, and I know over 50% of teachers do, one class I had the teacher said 'no wikipedia' specifically, while the other would allow wikipedia printouts as homework. If you don't want your kids knowing about the human body, maybe watch them while they use the computer, or look into one of those site blockers.

[edit on 15-8-2009 by Razimus]

Yes, these children are surely my minions. In the sense of #3 of the definition:

1. An obsequious follower or dependent; a sycophant.
2. A subordinate official, especially a servile one.
3. One who is highly esteemed or favored; a darling.

Great story, OP. Made me laugh.

I think your basic stance of refusing to discuss this stuff until the kids are older is wise, but when you say something to kids like that, its like lighting a dynomite fuse...of course the kids are going to want to know what the big secret is, and "a few years" to a kid might as well be eternity.

When I was a kid, my own mom was a democrat and my dad was a republican and sometimes they'd trade sharp words about this or that at the dinner table. My brother and I would start to ask questions, and their basic response would be: "Mommy thinks this [insert vastly simplified account of her thoughts here] and daddy thinks that [insert vastly simplified account of his thoughts here]. You will get to make up your own mind about it yourself later when your older, but right now daddy's too tired from working all day so we aren't going to discuss it at the dinner table." I think looking back it was not a bad approach. It got us thinking and questioning and interested in these things very young, which was good, and it also prevented the whole thing from turning into a shouting match. Most importantly, it taught us flexibility of mind, and the idea that sometimes adults can disagree.

The other thing is, what a kid believes at age 9 isn't the same as what he's going to believe at age 12 or age 14 or age 21 or age 31. Beliefs change. So probably the best track when they are young is to teach them HOW to think and question, whether than worrying so much about WHAT they believe.

[edit on 8/15/09 by silent thunder]

Valid point you make there. I try to be as close to the truth as possible ie...we don't agree on some aspects of history relating to X event...but they are sly, I tell you. What aspect, she will say...and then you find yourself explaining WAY more than you need to. My mothers wish came true. I've gotten children who are smarter than me and who run rings around me.