mamabear2three Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 My daughter turned 6 in March. I have in the past month or so had some interesting conversations with her and would love to know if they are typical of children her age or not. 1. She was discussing/asking questions about angels/demons - asking about what God can do compared to angels and demons, and compared to Satan. She specifically asked if Satan can change what he looks like in different situations in order to trick people. Conversation included a lot of discussion about how the supernatural world interacts with the real world. (Her background in these topics - we are Christians and have read the Bible/attended Church and Sunday school where basics on who God is, the fact that there are angels who are God's messengers and Satan who doesn't like God, existence of heaven (where you get to go to be with God when you die) and hell (where you are forever separated from God) but not much much than these basic facts.) 2. Driving in the car today she asked me "mom, how do we know that what we see is real?" conversation proved that she indeed meant exactly what she asked - including the idea that we could all be wearing glasses of some sort that show us the lines on the road but that the lines really aren't there. Am I crazy? Are these normal 6 year old conversations/lines of questioning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 They're normal for some kids. It sounds like you have a young philosopher on your hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiMi 4under3 Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 It sounds like normal questions based on what she's been exposed to. She's trying to make sense of all that she's learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I have one who asks questions like that. They are normal for a gifted kid who likes things to make sense and is a thinker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Normal for a kid who thinks a lot. When dd was very young she had a lot of questions about God like why he allowed bad things to happen to little children and questions about death. The conversations got much deeper than I would have ever gone with a child that young but her initial questions and follow up led us there. Often I had to let her know that I question some of those things, too, and don't know the answers but I explained what makes sense to me within my belief system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamabear2three Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 thanks :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 My daughter turned 6 in March. I have in the past month or so had some interesting conversations with her and would love to know if they are typical of children her age or not. 1. She was discussing/asking questions about angels/demons - asking about what God can do compared to angels and demons, and compared to Satan. She specifically asked if Satan can change what he looks like in different situations in order to trick people. Conversation included a lot of discussion about how the supernatural world interacts with the real world. (Her background in these topics - we are Christians and have read the Bible/attended Church and Sunday school where basics on who God is, the fact that there are angels who are God's messengers and Satan who doesn't like God, existence of heaven (where you get to go to be with God when you die) and hell (where you are forever separated from God) but not much much than these basic facts.) 2. Driving in the car today she asked me "mom, how do we know that what we see is real?" conversation proved that she indeed meant exactly what she asked - including the idea that we could all be wearing glasses of some sort that show us the lines on the road but that the lines really aren't there. Am I crazy? Are these normal 6 year old conversations/lines of questioning? Yes very normal for some kids. My ds14 was like that at age 6. He is like that now as a matter of fact. Sometimes he exhausts me. My mom says I am paying for my raising...apparently I was the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 My middle son is like that. It's gotten better in the last year, but at 4 and 5, he had a LOT of difficult, philosophical questions. Made my brain hurt. He is constantly thinking and questioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamabear2three Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 Made my brain hurt. He is constantly thinking and questioning. Yes it does make my brain hurt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketcase Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Yep, I have one like that. She keeps us on our toes - and her Sunday school teacher, too! I adore her deep thoughts, and I often wonder what else she's thinking about that she doesn't mention. There's a lot going on in her brain. That was me, too. Pondering the nature of eternity at 3, according to the family story. I grew up to be more than averagely concerned about moral issues, integrity, religion, service. But otherwise pretty normal? I figure society needs our deep thinkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrystalAnne Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Yes, that sounds like my boy (just turned 6). And usually those thoughts come up in the car or before bed at night. Funny though, while he was sorting out the reality of God, angels, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, etc., I tried reading some Just So Stories. He listened intently to one, and at the end, looked at me funny and said, "That's ridiculous!" :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squawky Acres Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 You must have a very honest and close relationship with your daughter for her to feel comfortable asking these questions. I think those are questions typical of a gifted young child (or maybe most young children?). My 4 and 6-year-olds ask questions like that, and I remember having similar thoughts when I was that young. I was obsessed for weeks with the thought that it was impossible to know if the world I experienced was true and real, or if it was just an illusion constructed by some powerful other being who wanted to deceive me. When I shared my concerns with the adults in my life, I was criticized for thinking such "self-centered" thoughts. In a Philosophy course later on, I came across Descartes' Evil Demon, and realized I had a legitimate question as a Kindergartener. I wish someone had taken my questions seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolkitty Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 yeah, no body told ya' you had to have a Theology degree! and questions pop as you least expect it! Good thing to say is I don't k now we can ask daddy, or ask pastor or look it up in the bible. that will buy you some time... but it will also make you cement what you believe. If she's having nightmares, then make sure to tell her that the enemy of God is much lesser than God, since it has been made by God. It's power comes from what we give it when we believe in its lies, like believing that God and the enemy satan are the same power which makes us afraid (young and old). I thnk that is one of the major notions in littles minds. Then relate that bible verse that says in 1 John 4:4 Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Sounds normal to me. My kids didn't ask those precise things about angels, satan etc because we don't have that religious context, but my nearly 6yo asks many questions of a similar kind (how can we tell whether ghosts are real? Is Aslan as powerful as Zeus?) And yes, all my kids have gone through stages of speculating on the nature of reality, perception etc. (eg what if the world is somebody's dream? What if we are a giant's science experiment?) as well as the endless Why and How questions, not to mention the 'How can people possibly believe ...?" questions (mine are all born skeptics, and I'm sure there is no way we could have ever gotten them to believe in santa etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 It would be normal for us here. The knowing if what we see is real starting a conversation about light and how the eye works with one kid and went into an in depth philosophy discussion that sounded like it came out of Peter Kreefts 'The Philosophy of Tolkien'. My oldest tends to ask a lot of philosophical questions. My youngest tends to ask a lot of in depth questions about how the world works, but not really from a philosophical angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 That's normal for many kids, though not all kids. The younger kiddo spent her first grade year wrestling with the concept of the start of the world. She could grasp religious explanations from any religion you threw at her, and she had a good enough understanding of a non-religious explanation, but she just couldn't get her head around "but what happened BEFORE that?" (Neither can I!) Of course, you have to intersperse this with questions about what makes belly button lint to get the full picture of what's going on in their heads at that age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamabear2three Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 Of course, you have to intersperse this with questions about what makes belly button lint to get the full picture of what's going on in their heads at that age. haha, yeah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pehp Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 My son asks questions like that as well (he just turned 7). And he asks me amazingly specific, insightful questions about all sorts of other things. I love seeing how his brain works!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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