The questions they ask !!

On a melancholic note my little (and only) GS (3.5 years old) opened the door to me yesterday and initially looked happy to see me but then (you could see his mind working) looked over his shoulder to his Mummy and said "It's Granny - why is she here?" Obviously he sees me being there means his Mummy is leaving him - my DD and I are aware of this and I call at odd times to have a cup of tea and a chat with her and play with him to try to alleviate this but the guy is too clever by half. I frequently tell my DD she needs to be three streets ahead of him, not just one !!!

On the same subject, my dear friend's daughter (aged 7 at the time) having got into an awful pickle and trouble with school, Brownies, Mum and (estranged) Dad asked me if she could "rewind her life". How sad is that? I explained that that couldn't happen but she could keep a good tape running from now on Didn't work unfortunately but that's another story.

My 6 year old DGD often says when she not sure if someone is joking " In real life" as in is this a story or not

I think this thread is really interesting - perhaps children today find it very confusing about what is and is not real life. After all "in my day" there were only story books and later on (but not until I was 4 or 5) the "pictures" whereas today's youngsters have DVD's TV, films PCs Games etc. from a very early age - it's not really surprising that this question of 'is it real life' is asked by them - more so than their parent's generation let alone their grandparents. I wonder, does this contribute to fantastic imaginations and/or mental health problems in later years? Just wondering.........

I entirely agree. Modern TV and games have such realistic representations of alternative realities that it is very confusing for children. My DGS once told me with complete authority 'Of course dinosaurs exist Gran. They're just in another country'. I was reminded of this when watching the giant dinosaur programme last night. DGS wouldn't be as amazed as us as he's so familiar with the ones exactly like it on his Cbeebies programmes.

Jomarie that is an interesting point. Maybe there is a link between over exposure to multi-media and anxiety related issues which seem to be a growing problem in younger generations.

Perhaps the frequent images of dinosaurs has had some effect on the many people who are convinced that humans and dinosaurs did once live side by side on the planet?

Then again, maybe it is just down to a general rejection of evidence to the contrary - but please don't continue that into a whole thread of argument!

I'm not sure this confusion between reality and TV is new.

I was a school governor at an infant and primary school in the late 80's when the A TEam was new on TV and we had to ban playing it in the playground because of the number of injuries.

When we asked the children it became apparent they thought that as the A Team were blown up and thrown around regularly and just got up and got on that's how it worked in real life.

My niece once asked us "who digs the people up when they're ready to be alive again?", as we walked past a graveyard...

One son used to ask DH if he remembered all sorts of historical events and DH used to answer "I wasn't even born then". On one memorable car journey a little voice from the back asked a question followed by "Were you alive then?" Now when we talk about the past we often say "when I was alive".

One GS has to ask if things his mother says are true because he has worked out for himself that she tells lies. That is so sad, not only for him but for her too.

We spend a lot of time saying to the GC "It's only pretend." Even when we think they know we say it, as some of the stuff on TV looks so realistic now.

With CGI even I am not sure what is real and what isn't. Not sure how children can tell the difference. My DGS firmly believes in live dragons. hugs

My eldest son started asking at quite an early age "How did they do that" to any special effects in films or TV (of course, back in the 1980s the CGI was non-existent and other effects were less convincing.) DS No 2 always got easily upset even by the most benign cartoons, which obviously aren't real, surely, even to a toddler.

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"

DD1 was quite distressed, when she was about 3 , when I mentioned that something happened before DD2 was born, saying "What did she do with herself then?"