34 Questions from First Grade
Why can’t we fly? If we can, how?
Here are 34 questions from first graders, written by hand on post-its and stuck to a poster to decorate the auditorium of an elementary school I visited. I wasn’t supposed to answer them (phew), but they gave a glimpse of what was on my readers’ minds that week.
I’ve adjusted spelling for legibility — lightly, and only very reluctantly.
—MAC
Is ghosts real?
Why can we not see God?
Why do flowers not grow so fast?
Why can’t I have a dog?
Why can’t my baseball team win?
Who made the universe?
Is cancer real?
Why do people like ice cream?
Why does my dog bark at the wind?
Why am I a righty?
Why can’t I see air?
Who made leather?
Why is my dog scared of my cat? It should be the opposite.
Why is so much stuff expensive?
Why can’t I get a horse?
Who made texture?
How do you make yourself grow!!
Who made god?
Why do people love their mom and dad?
Who made numbers?
Why can’t I wear makeup?
Why can we not play games at school?
Why are people good at art?
How was I born?
Why can’t we fly? If we can, how?
Why is my name Addison?
Why am I so good at art but not soccer?
Why does my cat not like another cat?
Why is the universe real?
Why is math hard?
Who made the DNA of dinosaurs if people were not alive?
Why does your dog steal your shoes and socks?
Why can we not do what we want?
Who made texture? That one sent me down an existential rabbit hole!
“Why can we not do what we want?”
Yep, I feel ya, kiddo :)