Yesterday, while driving home in the evening, the following conversation ensued:
DS1: The sun is setting in the west. (As we are driving into the setting sun.)
Mom: Yes, it is.
DS1: Why does the sun set in the west?
Dad: Because it comes up in the east.
DS1: The sun doesn't move, the earth moves.
(Mom pumps her fist "Yes!" and grins from ear to ear. )
Mom: It looks like the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west because of the way the earth rotates.
DS1: Like this? (As he makes a fist and twists his wrist to rotate his hand.)
Dad: Yes, like that.
DS1: So why does the earth turn and go around the sun?
Dad: That's just what they do.
DS1: But why?
Mom: (Hmmm?) Because that's how God made the sun and earth to work together.
Mom considers getting a flashlight and basketball when arriving home and experimenting, but it's well past bedtime (and people are yawning) so Dad talks her into doing it some other time.
I wish I had a more detailed explanation for him, but now my 5 yr old son knows as much about the relative movement of the sun and the earth as I do.
>I wish I had a more detailed >explanation for him,
ReplyDeleteThat's when you say "Gosh, I dunno. Remind me in the morning and we'll look it up on the internet!" If it weren't for the internet, my kids would think that everything happens "because that's how it is."