We have 4 kids age 5 and under. Right around age 2 or 3 they hit the “need input” stage or “the why’s” (our girls hit a little earlier). A child is like a sponge, they will soak up what they are immersed in. In these early, influential and malleable years, we as parents determine some conditions of their world and guide them through the parts beyond our control.

At this age, it is doubtful they would question any answer we give, “2 plus 2 equals chair!” As you are one of the people determining what they are “soaking up”, let us just channel our inner Cliff Clavin and spout of some funtastically interesting little nuggets of knowledge as we pass the lima beans at tonights family dinner. Careful, if you present yourself as a person of authority or standing in the world, they just might assume you have a clue what you are talking about.

You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance.  ~Franklin P. Jones

I am indeed planning on employing online video to curb at least some of the teenage boy life-threatening curiosity (or maybe just make him aim higher). When approached with “What happens when you microwave gunpowder?” or “Is hairspray flammable?” we can hit YouTube and find some schmoe who captured it for posterity.

I have no special talents.  I am only passionately curious.  ~Albert Einstein

For these younger, more innocent years there are two sites in particular that have been a ton of fun to peruse and discover that by most accounts I am NOT smarter than a fifth grader. For the “I have always wondered…” there is HowStuffWorks which seems more suited for your tweens and teens. What are Jet Contrails? How do I figure out how far away lightening struck? They also have some wonderful audio podcasts to take up long drives.

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child.  There are seven million.  ~Walt Streightiff

For some stumpers to chew on where delivering the answer makes you sweat a little and consider the old standby “Go ask your mother.” there is Whyzz.com. Whyzz is “…a Web service that can help you find answers to your children’s nagging or hard-to-answer questions, straight from other parents who have had to answer them.”

Buck: What’s your record for consecutive questions asked?
Miles: 38.
Buck: I’m your Dad’s brother alright.
Miles: You have much more hair in your nose than my Dad.
Buck: How nice of you to notice.
Miles: I’m a kid - that’s my job. ~From “Uncle Buck” 1989

Any sites helping you with the endless thirst for input from the ankle-biters? Share in the commments.