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Linas Jokubaitis

71 Questions Kids Asked That Left Their Parents Completely Stumped

Jesus Brain CNN

Children often ask the best, most insightful, and out-of-the-box questions. However, parents don’t always know how to answer them. So, they stand there, panicking slightly, urging their final braincell to think of something—anything!—to say.

Parents shared their funniest, weirdest, and most confusing experiences in a very relatable online thread. We’re featuring the most innocent questions that kids asked that completely broke their parents’ brains. We hope you’re taking notes about what to research!

#1

My four year old asked when he was born. I said you know when you were born! He insisted he didn’t, so I gave him the date, and a look of utter amazement came over his face and he said ‘Was I born on my birthday?'.

#2

Not exactly a question but my son is 5 and started getting a little bit of an attitude this year. I told him he had to do something (pick up his toys, clean up his books, etc.) and that he wasn’t allowed to go play until he cleaned up a bit.

He had a tantrum and at the end yelled “you’re the worst!” He’s never talked to me like that so I was a little hurt but I told him that was not a nice thing to say and that me and his mom do a lot for him and he needs to clean up his toys.

About 15 minutes later he is sobbing on the stairs. I came over and asked him what’s wrong and he apologized and said “I told you you’re the worst and that makes ME the worst!” That absolutely broke my heart. I told him it was okay, we all get mad sometimes but no matter what I’ll always love him, and that he was the best son in the world.

#3

While sitting in the dentist’s chair, “mommy, my friend told me that old people go to the doctor and they stick a camera up their butts. That won’t happen to me today right?”

At least the dentist got a kick out of it.

Good communication, active listening, openness, avoiding judgment, and encouraging curiosity—ideally, that’s what you aim for as a parent. But that’s easier said than done. It’s hard to know what to do when you get ambushed with a particularly spicy, deep, meaningful, or bizarre question.

According to Alan Kazdin, Ph.D., professor of psychology and child psychiatry at Yale University, many questions that children ask “aren’t issues” for them, but “they are for parents.”

However, if your kid is wondering about the world, being curious, and asking you something, you should “just go right at it [the question],” he told CNN.

#4

My six year old said “Momma, the next time we’re born, if we find each other, will you call me by my name so I know it’s you?”

#5

Child, age 6-7: “Mom, do Minions get constipated?”
Me, startled: “Um, I don’t know. Why?”
Child: “Because their favorite food is bananas and you say bananas make it hard for me to go.”

Impeccable logic.

#6

“What’s an atom?”

She was five. She randomly asked this when I was driving one day. I have no idea how to explain what an atom is (I’ve never been good at sciences), especially to a small child. I gave her the best explanation I could. She’s a super smart kid so it makes sense she’d have super smart questions. I told her I’m not totally sure I’m right and that’s a very good question to ask her teacher. Filled with pride, I told her she’s very clever and asked her why she asked that.

She said, “oh, I saw a sign that said ATM”.

The important thing is that, no matter what your kid asks you, try not to freak out or be judgmental. Simply answer the question (to the best of your knowledge) and then comment on it.

For example, if your child asks you what a certain swear word means, tell them, and then explain why it’s not something your family uses, and that you get in trouble for doing so.

“The reason those words have power is because adults don't talk to kids about this stuff. They have power because they cause a reaction. If a child knows them, then it's not a big deal -- it takes all the energy out of it,” Kazdin said.

Meanwhile, James Brush, Ph.D., a child psychologist in Cincinnati, explained to CNN that kids appreciate parents who “really listen and reflect and don't try to charge in with the cavalry.”

According to Brush, “Sometimes just reflecting the feeling behind the question is enough. Sometimes they're not looking for information -- they're looking for empathy.”

#7

At a plantation after learning about sl*very: “why would you have a wedding here?” ~ 10 years old.

#8

“How do you know what I think is ‘red’ is the same thing you think is ‘red’?”

#9

"Why do some kids have a dad and we don't?" My five year old niece, in reference to her and her four year old sister. She asked it so sweetly, like when kids ask Why is the sky blue? Or Why do i have to take a nap?

Their dad died. I just told her that she did have a Dad, he just passed away and wasn't here with us anymore. "Is he with Jesus then?" Of course she asks me - the only non Christian in the whole dang family (well, me and my husband) so I said "Your dad believed in Jesus so im sure he is."

Then the follow up - "where is your dad?" So I said he passed away too. "I saw a picture of your dad fishing (the most prominent pic of my dad in my house) - do you think he's fishing with my Daddy and Jesus?" So I choked back about a thousand tears and said "Oh I bet they're catching all the fish together!"

I hated their dad. He beat my sister in law. He beat them in front of those girls. But he died when they too were too young to remember. W*f I am supposed to do? I promise my Dad isn't anywhere around their dad in any after life, but the image in their minds of my Dad fishing with theirs made both of them smile, so...worth it.

Rosemarie Truglio, a developmental psychologist and Sesame Workshop's senior vice president of education and research, told NPR that you do not have to rush to answer your child’s questions. You can ask for clarification and pause. For one, this gives you breathing room to consider how you’ll answer. Moreover, you can really get to grips with what you’re being asked, and you can answer the right question instead of the wrong one.

“They may not actually be asking what you think they're asking. You may be about to give them too much information that they don't want and they're not ready for. Pause before you respond, and make sure you're really answering the question with the just-right amount of information that they can handle at the moment,” Truglio said.

#10

My severely asthmatic kid who is allergic to everything that grows once asked me why God made him that way. My heart broke, and I actually went soul searching and changed political parties. He didnt do anything except be born, and yet his life hangs on threads of being able to have access to medical care. How could I, as a mom, vote against the best interests of an innocent child?

#11

“Why do I have to spend more of my life doing stuff I don’t want to do, than stuff I do want to do?”.

#12

My daughter, age 3: “Mommy, when chairs grow up, I think they turn into couches.”.

Do you think that Minions get constipated from eating so many bananas? Which of these kids’ questions would likely break your brain, too?

What are the most bizarre and out-there questions that a child has ever asked you? Meanwhile, what’s the deepest question that you’ve ever asked an adult when you were small?

Share your stories and opinions in the comments! We can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

#13

Not a parent stort, but when I went back to my job as a nanny after my partner died, the 6 year old boy I watch asked me "Now who's going to kiss you goodnight? I'll kiss you every time you go home." Broke my brain, grabbed my heart.

#14

We had just taken a guided tour of a cave system with lots of interesting cave facts. And the end of the tour the guide asked if we had any questions.

My 4 year old son raises his hand and the guide bent down and smiled and asked, “what’s your question?”

My son replied, “How do they get robots to walk?”.

#15

My daughter saw a no parking sign … the letter P with the ghostbuster cross out on it. She asked “oh, so you’re not allowed to pee here”

My other daughter had a plastic cow and at the dinner table, she held it over my cup and said “pee pee pee” and I asked her what she was doing and she said “filling up your cup with milk” and I said “oh, uh, milk is not cow pee” and she was shocked!

#16

When my elementary school age daughter asked, mom, what do Mongolians smell like? I said, as far as I know, just like anybody else... Let me see that book. The book she was reading was talking about what magnolias smelled like.

Another time, at the dinner table, her brother was playing with his food - spaghetti and meatballs. She heaved that sigh reserved by big sisters for younger brothers and said, Evan! Don't beat your meat! I almost choked.

#17

“Would you still love me if I ever told you I was gay?”

The child was in third grade.

My answer was immediate reassurance and self-reflection for why she felt the need to ask. My answer to that question led to my deconstruction from Christianity and, eventually, my own departure from “the closet.”.

#18

“Why are you telling me this? It’s too sad!”

~my young son when I had to break the news about his father’s d***h

Maybe it broke my heart and brain.

#19

“If girls can marry girls, why did you marry Dada?”

#20

My daughter asked me which side I was on in the civil war 😳.

#21

My 3-year-old as I’m putting her to bed: “Why does time go by?…Where does it go?”.

#22

“Can men be doctors too?!?” My son at the Optomistrist. It hadn’t really occurred to me that I tended to take the kids to female doctors. And dentists.

#23

Back when I was like 5 I asked my grandma who God was, and she described God as an “almighty being”, but i heard “bean” so i spent a couple years trying to figure out why so many people followed a giant Pinto Bean.

#24

My son, as a toddler, was in the car with us. We pulled into the driveway and suddenly he asked his mother “Are you and Dad going to d*e at some point?” She said, hesitantly, that it was true. My son immediately asked “If you d*e, do I get to keep your stuff?” She replied “Yes, you will.” My son thought for a minute and said “Okay, then.” He got out of the car and never mentioned it again. 😂.

#25

“Why can’t my friends and I share underwear?”
I’ve been keeping close tabs on our laundry since then.

#26

Literally this weekend we were in the hospital with my ailing father, and my 9 yo daughter was shocked to learn the hospital cost money (upon hearing us joke about getting as many juice cups as we wanted bc “we’d be paying for them”). She sat there thoughtfully for a moment and then said slowly “… but if hospitals help people, why do we make people pay for them? What if people can’t pay, how will they get better to go back to do other things?” And then I had to explain capitalism and healthcare 😭

Honestly it was sort of a system shock to be reminded how plainly and clearly “good” the idea of universal healthcare is—that a child would intrinsically understand it and assume that we, the adults, would obviously have implemented it.

#27

Obligatory not a parent, but I have had one of my babysitting kids ask me why I can't sit and talk with them in bed all night. I'm flattered love, but there's only so many times I can hear that you know 3 different Elliots before I'm gonna lose my mind. Go to *sleep!*

#28

“Mommy, why did [her brother] d*e when he wasn’t even a grown up yet?” Maybe broke my heart more than my brain, but I didn’t have much of an answer for her beyond “because life is really unfair sometimes.”.

#29

I remember shortly after 9/11 I was sitting in front of the TV in military housing, turned and asked my military father in front of all of his military friends "Why are we fighting them? What do we get if we win? What do they get if they win?"

I was a child and it was the only way I could come close to verbalizing the question "what the hell is this conflict even about". Let me tell you, that was an insanely uncomfortable conversation for every single person in the room. The more follow up questions I had, the angrier everyone got. Which made me more curious because I had no idea why everyone was angry.

That was the first of many political arguments I would get into with my career military father.

My mom- I asked her about all the theoretical inbreeding taking place in my book of Bible stories. Her response was to take the book away because "those aren't the good ones". This was the first of many uncomfortable conversations about religion I would have with my Southern Baptist mother. She eventually stop letting me go to church when other people would invite me (because I was a difficult child who couldn't read a room). Her excuse was that "churches are often lame and full of mean people who need help feeling nice" and we weren't mean and didn't need help being nice ergo no church for us.

#30

My preschooler wanted to eat on the couch. I said he had to eat at the table.
Him “But you get to eat on the couch”
Me; “grown ups are allowed to eat on the couch”
Him “then how come daddy gets to eat on the couch”

#31

Not a parent but an uncle. My brother had twins, a boy and a girl. The girl got lung cancer at 10. Fought and won for almost 2 years and on christmas day got pneumonia and went into septic shock. They tried for a week to bring her back but we had to pull the plug. The boy had learning disabilities and emotional developement problems. We are walking down the hall after and he wanted to show me this fire truck in the kids lobby and write a pray message at the chapel. As we get to the elevator he grabs my hand and tugs it and asks in the most innocent and genuine way, "Uncle Tim, why is this happening?" I gave him some answer that I don't remember and tried to keep my composure because he really wanted to show me this fire truck. Broke my brain and a little of my soul. There is no answer to that question.

#32

“How does Santa Claus live forever?”

“He’s not mortal, he’s the emergent property of humanity’s kindness and generosity.”

“So if everyone stopped being nice to each other, would Santa d*e?”

“…Yes…”.

#33

My 4 year old son’s question was “Dad, can I use your flashlight?” My response was “Why do you need a flashlight?” Brief pause then he answered with “Because I can’t see in the dark”.

#34

My kids were always what I called car seat philosophers. Anyone else only get questions about s*x, d***h and religion as you are trying to merge onto the interstate or was it just my kids?

#35

“Why didn’t the lady say sorry after she hurted me?”

My 3.5yo on the way home from the ER, after a lady drove into the playground and broke the fence, which hit my kid. That was a hard one.

#36

"When will he be back from being died?" My son was three and missing his great Grandfather, as we all were. Broke my heart more than my brain.

#37

Mom, what were dinosaurs like?

#38

When my younger son was 6, he asked me if God had teeth.

#39

I took my then-5-year-old fishing with me one morning. "Daddy, when you catch a fish and pull it in the air, do you think it's like when aliens steal us and take us up into outer space?"

I had so many questions...

#40

I remember asking my mother if the world was black and white back in the day, because I had an old black and white tv at the time.

#41

"I don't make you eat fish, why do you make me eat broccoli?"

F*****g got me.

#42

"Why do we have bones?"-
I Googled it, and Slim Goodbody came through with "Without your skeleton you'd be gelatin".

#43

Most recently “what day are the cats going to d*e?”.

#44

“Dad, the people on the side of the road with signs asking for money?”

“Yeah kiddo?”

“Why do most of them have brown skin?”

Hoo boy, I was not ready to explain structural racism and inequality to my 6 year old, but here we go.

#45

My daughter was staring out the window of the truck and said, “Daddy, how do animals know when they’re happy if they don’t have tails?”.

#46

4 yo son "Dad, how do we know we're real and not somebody else's dream?".

Me: "Well Gabe, philosophers have been trying to answer that question for a few thousand years. I don't know that we'll solve it on the way home from grocery shopping but let's give it a shot!"

He got his PhD in economics last month.

#47

Why don't you talk to your sister anymore?

Well... that one is complicated.

#48

Why are words words like why is a lamp called a lamp, and how did we all decide that yea this noise we make is what we are going to use to say things?

#49

‘Mom, How do all those d**d people breathe underground.’ 5 solid minutes after passing a cemetery.

#50

My son was unhappy about having to sleep in his bed. I told him it was his big boy bed and he needed to sleep in it. He replied that he WAS a big boy and that he still wanted to sleep in our (my wife and I) bed. He asked "Why do YOU get to sleep with mommy?!?" I had no good answer to that one at the time :-).

#51

When my daughter was 4 yo (she’s 15 now) while putting her to bed and in the middle of our bedtime conversations, she told me in a matter-of-fact voice that God sometimes get it wrong. I asked her what did (God) get wrong. And she said, God should have just put humans in Jupiter since it was waaaaay bigger than Earth. This way, the animals will have more space in planet Earth. This was a conclusion she arrived to after a series of conversations about planets, about human activities destroying animal habitats, about how humans and animals share the same planet.

This is the same kid who told me (at age 5) to finish all my food (especially my meat) because the animals and the vegetables sacrificed their life for us and we should honor it by finishing it and not throwing it away.

#52

My husband and I adopted a dog from mural Missouri. He was neutered and had been tattooed to indicate that he was.

We moved to the middle of Kansas and I was walking the dogs by a park. Kids ask if they can pet my dogs and I say of course, they are friendly. Adopted dog flops onto his back to expose his belly for rubs and one of the kids sees the cross tattooed on him. Without missing a beat he says, “Ma’am, does your dog believe in Jesus Christ?”

My husband and I are agnostic but I didn’t want to stir the pot, so I stammered out something like “uh yeah sure why don’t you ask your parents?” and quickly dragged the dogs away to continue on our walk.

#53

My 5 year old son asked why they talk about sheep so much in church. That was very illuminating for me.

#54

This probably will seem fake. Can't help that. When my daughter was 2, we were at the Air and Space museum, and she saw a photo of one of the planes hitting the tower on 9/11. After I gave a brief, simplified explanation, I tried to move on, but she wouldn't budge. She looked up at me and asked, "Were there any babies on the plane?"

I guess it broke my heart more than breaking my brain.

#55

When I was in your tummy and I hatched out of that little egg, where did the shells go?

#56

What is nothing? From an 8yo.

And the more we thought about, the more we knew nothing about nothing.

We had a friend explain one theory to him in a way that it was plausible explanation. As soon as my friend asked if they had any questions, they asked if they could go play outside.

#57

"Do paw patrols p**p on the floor?"

"Do cats have knees?".

#58

My daughter asked me who owns history. The context is that we were discussing indigenous nations that had entirely disappeared without recordings or with very few (written or audio/video) and she didn't understand why people wouldn't want everyone to have their history.

#59

My son asked me if Sponge Bob had a weiner?

#60

Dad, you can fix everything around the house, but can you fix yourself?

#61

“Did the baby Jesus like bananas?”.

#62

"How do memories get in my brain?".

#63

"Dad, what's 'insurance'?"

I can't explain the concept of insurance to a 5 year old before I've even had coffee.

Edit: yes, it's simple enough to to explain with time to think about it. It's a little different at 6:20am when you haven't even woken up yet.

#64

At 4 years old, trying to avoid bedtime, said he had a question: “Why do we celebrate birthdays when it means we are another year closer to d***h?”
Me: 😮😳 I will always celebrate the day you were born. Go to bed.

#65

Random question that my son asked me while going to bed one night.
4 year old son: How did I get into your stomach?
Me: Your dad put you in there (it's not really lying but praying he wouldn't ask for me to elaborate.)
Son: I want a brother. Can I put a baby in you?
Me: NO!

#66

My son asked me how much it cost to cook the dog. (He was young and didn't know the word cremate).

#67

My son recently saw me doing nicotine pouches in the car driving down the road asked me what it was I told him and that it is for adults only and he should not pick up my bad habits.

Without even pausing he said "hmmmm I am really hungry, I think I will try one.".

#68

Years ago our old cat was very sick and I knew he didn’t have much time left. I wanted to prepare my then 4 year old daughter so I told her that the cat was was going to heaven soon and she wouldn’t see him anymore. She looked pensive and thought for a minute and then asked “Is daddy going to drive him there?” 😭😭😭 I said I hope not.

#69

“Dad, did you pre-order the bible?”.

#70

My son was 5. He asked why he had to sleep alone when the grown ups got to sleep in the same bed. He said he felt he got scared easier and dad wasnt scared of anything so in his head I should sleep with him to make him not scared. I didnt have a good reason...

#71

My 6 y.o.: Do gods live forever and know everything?

Me: I guess.

6 y.o.: Are demi-gods just gods that look human?

Me: Yes.

6 y.o. Since Santa has been around forever and knows if everyone has been naughty or nice, does that make him a demi-go?

Me: ......

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