Surprise, Complicated Kid Questions and How to Answer Them

Every parent will be able to relate to this if they have a child that's old enough to ask questions.  Last night, I was taken quite unawares by my 9 year old son who asked me, quite out of the blue, "Mom, what's it like to be a parent?". 

Oh boy!  That's a doozy of a question. How do you answer that one?  Not easily, I'll tell you that.

Here's what I did say after taking a deep breath of course: "Well...being a parent is hard.  You have to make a lot of decisions all the time, hoping they are the right ones to help your kids grow up the best they can.  But even though it's hard, it brings your dad and I a lot of joy because you and your sister are so fun and interesting.  I know what's it's like to not be a parent and I would choose being a parent every time.  I just can't imagine the two of you not being in my life."

That answer seemed to satisfy him because no more questions followed and he was quickly on to something else.  Whew!  I think I did ok with that one.  Lord knows what the next difficult question is going to be.

There's one thing I do know:  there's no conceivable way to be prepared for questions like that and kids can smell phony baloney answers a mile away.  So my advice as questions come at you like that, just be honest and hope for the best.

If you want to learn more about answering difficult questions from children, here's a great resource from TLC Family that provides tips.