What pearls of wisdom or profundity have you heard very young children say? Redditor keeril asks this question. Here are some of the best responses:
Pinkpickuptruck learned that the feeling of being a child lasts forever:
My little sister handed me a juice box as I was packing to move out and said "No one is really a grown up. They just act old because they have to"
Altruitis writes about a 4-year old's encounter with death:
At a funeral and overheard my aunt explaining to my four-year-old cousin "Grandma is sleeping now." My cousin looks in the casket and back at her and says, "I don't know mom, she looks pretty dead to me."
Here's a similar tale from everthepessimist:
When my uncle was dying, my nephew said something that totally blew me away. His parents had just told him that my uncle only had a little time left to live and he looked up from playing with a toy and asked, "does everyone die?" "Eventually, yes," his parents responded. He looked down and said nonchalantly, "well if we're all going to die why are we so afraid of it?"
The daughter of theonlyotheruser is very postmodern:
After learning the difference between living things and non-living things, my daughter was following me around asking whether things were alive or not, and telling me her opinion on them. Cars arent alive cause they can move but they dont grow, stuff like that.
Then she asked "What about words? Words change and grow when we use them. Words are alive."
Blew my mind.
A child known by theonlyguyonreddit knows how to terrify me:
No dad you don't get it, shes not my imaginary friend i'm her imaginary friend
The son of Loveisourpurpose is a budding theologian ready to read Anselm and Aquinas:
When my youngest son was 3 years old he looked up from playing with a toy and asked me "Mommy how did God make himself ?"
I have no idea how to answer this question by SmaSteg's daughter:
My half sister at the ripe age of 4: "What if the colors I see aren't the same as the colors you see? And how would you know"
It's an interesting thought that I remember having at some point during childhood as well. Obviously there are some cases where it would be easy (someone who's color-blind is fairly easy to spot), but what if the green I see is slightly different from the green you see but is still "green" enough for us to both assume we're seeing the same color?
How would you answer any of these questions?
(Image: Nietzsche Watch now on sale at the NeatoShop)
-via Marginal Revolution