A quick word about 6 year olds

Ok, granted my daughter isn't quite 6 years old yet, but this is relevant. I was at Queens College last Saturday to watch a performance that my very awesome friend Veronica was in (as was her boyfriend). Before the show started I was listening in on the conversation of the two ladies sitting behind me. What else was I going to do? Put my fingers in my ears?

Well let me tell you that I had to work hard not to turn around and butt in. One lady was talking about how she went to the Ballet to see Swan Lake or whatever, and says that behind her were sitting a group of moms with their 6-yr old girls. Which I, when I heard that, thought was fantastic! To be able to bring a young, impressionable girl to something as culturally high-end and spectacular as the NY Ballet. But the lady goes on to complain that one girl kept asking questions and, this is not the end, that the mother kept answering the questions! O M G. A six year old had questions? And the mother was terrible enough to answer them? The lady then said something along the lines of, "if you take a kid to the ballet you have to make them shut up!" Shut up??

Don't get me wrong. The lady did not mention the content of the questions, nor the frequency of the questions; if they were about what was for dinner that night, or if she could stay home from school or whatever, then that's not appropriate, but say for instance, in the case of MY daughter, I KNOW she'd have been asking questions about the ballet. In which case I would have gladly answered as quietly as I could.

For all I know, the kid could have asked 2 questions the entire performance and the lady was just exaggerating. On the other hand, the kid could have really been non-stop about non-ballet themed issues. I don't know. But what I DO know is that 6 year olds are naturally inquisitive. They are young, impressionable (yes I know I used that word already), and eager to learn. And not just learn in general, but learn from you. Each parent has an opportunity to either answer their child's questions, or shut her up and let her simmer. Shut her up one too many times and the next time she has a question, she won't ask it. I believe that the hushing option will eventually kill my child's love of learning. I do my best to give her honest answers to everything she asks me to the best of my ability and in a simple way she can understand.

Ok so I guess that wasn't really that quick, but I had to get that out before I didn't feel like writing about it anymore. I'm glad I did. I feel better now.