re: Here Was a Man..............

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Knowing I have so many questions coming has led me to try to answer those that I never got around to myself.

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Absolutely...seek the answers. But when the little one asks, always remember, "I don't know" is not only a viable answer, it is, more often than not, the correct answer.

THEN, you can seek the Truth together. And that is so much more fun than acting like the absolute authority on everything that so many of us pretend to be with the little ones.

Answer: "BECAUSE I SAID SO!!!"
Question: "What is an answer I try to avoid when my daughter asks "why?""

What was really amazing to me, and very educational as well, was how a child is as equally rational as they are emotional. Untouched by indoctrination, a child has an extraordinary ability to make logical deductions that come very close to the reality as the given data allows.

In that, my Izzy awakened a new perspective to our existence within me. It has made me aware of how my words and superstitions can affect her reality, and made me careful to have discussions rather than lectures with her. I choose to feed her mind with questions to be answered, rather than the answers themselves. She needs the freedom to formulate her own reality, rather than have hers be a forced clone of my own. It's her life, and I'm here only for council and protection.

I will not stiffle her curiosity. I will feed it. Her favorite quote is "Think for yourself...question authority", and she understands what that means. Sure, thinking differently from the herd can cause problems for her, as it has me, but without the ability to do so, you are but a cog in the machine, not the machine itself. She can choose to be either, and allowing her that choice is the greatest gift I can impart unto her...

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Sure, thinking differently from the herd can cause problems for her, as it has me, but without the ability to do so, you are but a cog in the machine, not the machine itself. She can choose to be either,

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While I appreciate the sentiment I don't think there is anyway to avoid being a cog in the machine. Prisons and asylums and park benches at night are chock a bock full of people who refuse to accept the fact that they are meaningless cogs in the machine. I have 2 kids myself and I would be the best "animal farm" horse in a minute if it meant they never he to be but the fact of the matter is that they and myself and you and yours are pack animals, not lone wolves. You and yours will conform to the majority of whatever society demands of you are you will be removed from that society. Humans are no more special than ants or bees in this respect.

You can't teach nor can you learn to be different. If you are different then You will be no matter what. In spite of your best efforts you will be different. It isn't learned behavior to question the man....it is something you do without thinking....it is something that you do at times knowing full well that doing so is going to painful. You also can't be taught to conform...again it is natural instinct. Man would love to have the ability to do so....because we like to think we are individuals who matter...when in reality the only people we matter to is a infinitesimal group of family and friends. The one person we mean the most to is ourselves...beyond that it is a crap shoot.