Kids have an uncanny ability to put us in a fix with their curious questions. When my little daughter was growing up, she used to shoot questions at us out of the blue. Like the other day, she came up to me and asked me how long does it take for a baby to be born? I was at first taken aback, not knowing what to say, but mustered some sanity and replied 9 months not knowing where it was leading to. I got curious when she started writing on a book something. On a closer examination I could see her multiplying 101 with 9. So she got 909 and next she was dividing it by 12. So she got an answer of 75 and remainder 9. I asked her what she was doing. She said, Mama, Kauravas were 101 and if they were born 9 months after the other, then Duryodhan was 75 years elder than the youngest brother. And when the war happened what would have been his age? It was too much for me to handle, so I dodged the question saying I had a lot of work, and told her to ask her dad when he comes. [caption id="attachment_4267" align="alignleft" width="926"] theconversation[/caption] Phew...... What an escape. How am I supposed to know all this. But on a second thought, there seemed some logic in her question. How they come with such questions, only they know. So that evening luckily for Suresh, my hubby, we had a Birthday Party to attend and he escaped the question as Diya, my little one was super excited about attending her best friend's Birthday Party. A few days passed and on a chilled out Sunday morning, she came to me and put another googly. She asked me "Mama, how many months are there for my Birthday?" I replied"Your Birthday just came 3 months back. Don't you remember? Your next Birthday will come 9 months from now. Why? do you want a Birthday Gift or something?" I could see a sparkle in her eyes when she said, "Mama, you told me it takes 9 months for a baby to be born. I want a baby as a Birthday Gift". That was really a googly that had me clean bowled. Just as I was thinking of how to dodge her question, Suresh entered the room with the parcel of Breakfast. Glad was I to see him and again conveniently moved out saying "Come, have your Breakfast. Have it hot hot..." Motherhood has been a learning experience for me and am sure for all the mothers. What I learnt from these incidents is that the children are always exploring new things and are a storehouse of questions. I guess all of us have grown up being as inquisitive as our kids, but somewhere in the process of growing up, we have lost the mojo to learn and explore new possibilities. If we don't want a repeat of our mistakes by our children, we should keep their interest in learning alive. Even if they come up to us with awkward questions. Having said that, I did answer to her above queries in a more subtle manner on a later date and I guess she was convinced with what I put on the plate. Nowadays, she has started reading some books about aliens and stuff like that. God save me from the next question is all I can pray.

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