Kids love to ask tough questions, don't they? I know mine do. We haven't had any "where do babies come from" questions yet, but they can still ask things that are difficult to explain to little kids. However, Cole and I don't give bullcrap answers. Kids are smart. They want honest, scientific answers that are age appropriate.
My number one example is thunder. Our boys are terrified of loud thunder so we always have the same conversation when there are storms. We don't do the whole "oh, that's just God bowling" baloney. A kid knows that's not true. We tell them, lightning is electricity running through the sky to the ground. When the electricity discharges, it does so with such force that it moves the air around it incredibly fast. Thunder is the sound of the air moving outward from the lightning strike and sound alone can not hurt you.
Don't even get me started on parents' aversion to anatomy questions. If you freak out over every little question and use all sorts weird of euphemisms, you're going to give your child a complex. Call a penis a penis, testicles testicles, explain those testicles will someday release chemicals into their bodies which will make their muscles get bigger, hair grow on their faces and chests, and voice go deeper, and move on. (End rant.)
Last night Ian asked me how water is made. I told him that water isn't made by man, it's a naturally occurring molecule on Earth which is what makes Earth so unique. Then we got into more how, what, and why questions so I decided to bust out the molecular modeling kit.
First, I built a couple of water molecules and explained to him each molecule is made of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. He recognized the words hydrogen and oxygen and said, "Hydrogen! Like hydrogen and helium in the sun! And oxygen's what we breathe!" Yes. I was quite pleased with that little noodle of his, thinking hard.
Molecules from the boys' first chemistry lesson
But then Ian had other questions, and I was glad that he really thought about what he was looking at and had questions. A molecular model is a great tool, but it's still hard to imagine something so small.
Q. Why is water blue or clear if oxygen is red?
A. Oxygen isn't actually red. These "atoms" are different colors so you can tell what is in your molecule.
Q. How can water slosh around if it's shaped like that? These aren't smooth.
A. Molecules are so tiny you can't see them, even with the best microscope. Their bent shape doesn't matter since they are so teeny tiny.
Q. How do the molecules stay together to make lots of water?
A. Each molecule has a dipole moment which means that it has a slight charge like a magnet. That makes molecules attracted to each other.
We then started talking about Buckminsterfullerene. The boys thought this was the funniest word they had ever heard. My modeling kit doesn't have enough atoms of the correct shape to make a true bucky-ball, but we did the best we could. The boys thought this was amazing. A 3-D molecule! Those actually exist?! Oh, yes boys. And this little gem is only the beginning of the crazy stuff that makes up our world at the molecular level.
3 of our "bucky-balls"
Ian then tried his hand at molecular modeling. He thought that perhaps this structure would be found in the metal that makes up ships. I liked that not only did he build something, he then considered where it could be found.
Eventually, Eli got a little bored with the whole experience and decided he'd just rest on the table. Whatever. Chemistry isn't every three-year-old's cup of tea...or chocolate milk.
I wonder where our next journey into chemistry will take us.
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