This morning, my daughter was watching me put laundry in the washing machine and she curiously asked: Where is that water coming from?
The following is my brilliant and attentive answer:
Well, it's the washer and that's just how it's made and there's pipes and that's how it works.
I think I do this sort of thing more often than I would like to admit. You know, giving an answer that isn't really an answer but has lots of words so maybe that will satisfy the four year old. Sometimes it does. But not always.
Can you think of any brainless answers you've given lately? Please do. Make me feel better.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
brainlessness
Todays topic:
a mother
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
38 comments:
I do this often and like you I am not proud of it. My favs:
1. Where is the sun? (asked at night). My answer: the sun was tired from working all day so it went to bed. It's the moon's turn to work.
2. Why is it raining? My answer: God decided that the earth needed a shower.
Here's mine:
Me: Kids, Christmas will be a little smaller this year.
Younger kids: Well, we can ask Santa.
Me: He's having economic difficulties as well, so he might not be able to, either.
My 2 year old asked me about thunder one day and what it was coming from. I was worried that I would scare him and so I replied that thunder was God's angels jumping on their beds. Now everytime it thunders, he breaks out into tune of "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" but it's angels jumping on the bed.
My daughter would talk NON-STOP. Once at Home Depot she had exhausted me with questions about what we were shopping for and what each and every item on each and every shelf was. Then she stopped to sniff the air. Her: "What's that smell?"
Me: (without thinking) "Chemicals" (oh crap! what have I said?)
Her: "What's temitals?"
Me: (thinking fast) "Things that smell"
It actually satisfied her and the Home Depot stocker (who was apparently hiding under some stock at the bottom row) burst out laughing - with relief I think!
I try to answer the best I can sometimes. But usually? My brainless response is the ultimate: it's to tell my never-ending-questioner daughter to stop asking questions. Like that doesn't prove my ignorance. Sometimes I tack on a "you're bugging me."
I'm such a good mom.
My all-time brainless answer?
"Because I said so."
No answers for you - but how about another brain-dead question. Mom what does "thick" mean? Go ahead I'm all ears.........
OK --- these other moms are far too creative. My 'brainless' response (which is, by the way, also my 'standard' response - hopefully this doesn't clue in to my apparent IQ...which has lessened as the years have increased) is:
MmHmm. Really? Wow. That's interesting.
And not necessarily in that order.
When my 7 year old was 4 or so he stood on his chair at a restaurant, lifted his shirt and pointed to his nipples and asked what they were.
ME: Sit down and put your shirt down. People are staring."
Jeremy: BUT what are these things called?
I leaned in close to him and said very quietly: Those are your nipples. Please sit down.
People are watching the interaction and most are chuckling.
Jeremy: What are nipples for?
Me: Decoration! NOW SIT!!!
The lady at the booth across from ours spit her drink on the table and there was a lot of laughter.
Well, while at the doctor on Sunday, I told him about the tightness in my chest. He asked if was asthma or what, and I told him it felt like the elevation (much like what I feel the first few days in CO when we're skiing)... we're in San Diego... at sea level. Oops, perhaps it is asthma.
My first thought was that you ought to run for political office. You've already got the lingo downpat. LOL!
I can't participate in this game. I have teenagers. As any parent of a teenager knows, they know everything about life and have no need to ask us parents any questions. Besides, what do we know anyway?
Oh I'm bad at this too.
Clint my hubby is so much better. The other day he was explaining electricity to my 5 year old. She was digging it! :)
I don't feel like taking the time and I don't like I could honestly explain electricity very well either. :)
The redhead can't question things quite yet, but I do tell him many a brainless thing. Usually my explanations are Waaaaaaaaaay too long and I always stumble over my words while explaining. If he becomes a normal functioning human being, it will be none of my doing.
this might be interesting since you know my mom, but when I asked her how zebras got their name, she told me because they looked like zebras.
mind blowing.
I was totally satisfied.
I trusted there was some other creature out there called a zebra she knew about and I didn't.
I think we've talked about how she's also the reason I associate zebras and giraffes together. wierd.
I give so many brainless answers that I can't even think of any right now..lol.
Being a librarian must be practice for motherhood. I answer questions all the time that I don't actually know the answers to. I just say things with conviction and people believe me because of my credentials. Sounds like I will be a pro if my time ever comes.
My daughter asked questions 24/7...if it's not a question, then it's just talking, talking, almost non-stop talking.
Sometimes I just (try to) politely tell her that my ears really hurt and she just needs to not talk for a little while.
My 3 year old is TALKATIVE...all day long, he's a real chatterbox.
I feel guilty because I find myself saying things like "oh really, wow, that's great" when I didn't really hear what he said.
My 10 year old was concerned yesterday afternoon because he heard a "sort of screaming sound" outside. My answer was, "Well, our family is all inside, so don't worry about it." Then I stopped and laughed at myself for such a ridiculous answer.
I love this post, and all the comments. I'm still laughing!
I answer everything...that's just the way God made it. ;-) He's now giving me that answer when I ask him why he does things he's not supposed to. Oops!
"I don't know, how about let's not anyone talk for a while?"
Not only is that a totally rude (and frequent) response, but it's not even proper English! Oh well, I'm trying to do better. sigh.
Oh gosh, I am just laughing away at all the comments....they are just so true. My 9 year old daughter talks non-stop so I am constantly asking her if we can play the quiet game to see who can go the longest without talking....sheesh...it really is the only way to even get to think for a few minutes.
I had one of these moments last night - they are all too frequent at our house! At the dinner table, 8 year old asked for an explanation of something - yes, this was just last night, and I can't for the life of me remember what the "something" was. I tried to respond, realized how completely brainless my response was, and just looked at dh to save me and said, "Dear?" Unfortunately, his response was on about the same level as mine! Poor kids!
The main kid is the genius niece, and she asks questions I don't even understand. Like the classic question that every two and a half year old asks while she's walking on the beach:
"Mommy, is this crab wild or domesticated?"
Yeah. No pressure to have smart kids AT ALL.
Just last night, my 4 year old asked me how you make toys.
My answer: Um, with wood. In a factory or something.
My husband, the engineer, then piped in with an 8 minute answer. He used words like "injection molding" and "polamers" or something like that. It was ridiculous. I rolled my eyes because he was showing off. Men!
Hahaha, this is like my son asking me where babies come from? I answer in the only intelligent way I know...."Go ask your father"
Works everytime!
Blessings,
Debbie
These days it seems like most of my answers are brainless. Right now, my 4 year old is asking me how all of my pictures are on that tiny little card in my camera. Ugh.
My standard answers for those moments is "Because that's how God made it." Which is technically true but doesn't really address the issue.
Can't think of any off the top of my head...I guess I'm having one of those brainlessness moments now!!!! I do it all the time though....it stinks as the kids get older....it doesn't satisfy them...or they say Nuh-Uh that's not right.
My boys asked me at dinner tonight: Why is He called God? And why is it called Heaven? I answered, "Well, that's just the name God chose!?"
My oldest stumped me completely when he was in pre-school. Picked him up from school one day and on the way home he asks . . .
"Mommy, how did God get born?"
Pretty sure he's still waiting on an adequate answer three years later!
My go to answer for pretty much everything...
"Just because"
Or... "Will you please stop talking?!"
Holy cow, no. I tend to over answer:
Well, dear, the water comes from the pipes which run through the ground under the town. They get the water from the water treatment plant, after it has been cleaned and made safe. So do you know where the water goes when it goes down the drain?...
I kid you not. I don't know why my brain allows me to do this. But I ramble on and on...
How are babies born?
At the hospital.
...but how do they get out of the Mommy?
The Dr. helps them.
...well, how does he do that?
At the hospital.
oh. ok!
This isn't brainless, actually. It was a carefully calculated answer to my 4 year old that satisfied him for 8 years.
I don't remember the exact question (I've slept since then) but yesterday our 2 year old asked about an airplane in Richard Scarry's Best Story Book Ever, something about how it worked. It was just before nap time and I couldn't even make up an answer I was so sleepy, I just had to say "Daddy is a better person to ask about airplanes."
He was fine with that answer and so was I at the time.
I read this post a few days ago but just had one of those moments and think it's good enough to share. I was making an apple pie this afternoon and a few of my little sisters were watching. I was trying to be a good big sister and explain the steps as I mixed the ingredients together.
Me: "So I'm mixing the sugars and spices and corn starch together before I put it on the apples"
7 year old: "What is corn starch?"
Me: "Uh... it's a kind of powder they make. Out of ... corn, I guess"
haha... not very informative.
I am regularly stumped: e.g. "Mommy, why are your palms called 'palms'?" My best answer, esp. in the car, is "oooh, I don't know. Why don't we look that up when we get home?" Totally gets me off the hook, and generally the query is forgotten by the time we arrive.
Post a Comment