As the plane was airborne, a little girl on her very first flight turned to the woman next to her and said, when do we get smaller? ~ Aileen Goldman, This American Life

Good Morning!

Welcome to Tuesday’s Open Thread. Today's edition is being brought to you by kid logic. The kind of logical connections kids make about the world around them based on the information they have at the time. Sometimes they get it right, and sometimes they don't. But even when they get it wrong, there is a kind of logic there.

Building Very Strange Castles in the Sky

The next time you find yourself in a room full of six year olds, ask them what they think happens to all those teeth the tooth fairy collects. You might be surprised with the answers. I certainly was when This American Life went to an elementary school in New Jersey and asked that very question.

TAL:What do you think the tooth fairy does with all of these teeth that she's collecting?

Child 1: Maybe she gives it to the people without teeth.

TAL: Like who?

Child 1: Old people.

TAL: What do you think she does with all these teeth that she ends up taking?

Child 2: I know! In a faraway land way up in the clouds, there's a town that she makes castles and stuff.

TAL: She makes things out of the teeth?

Child 2: Mm-hmm.

Child 3: I really think she just likes to collect teeth and make things out of them.

TAL: Like what kind of stuff?

Child 4: Lots of stuff. Makes tooth house, tooth trophy, and a tooth desk.

TAL: How many teeth do you think it takes to make a tooth house?

Child 4: Yeah, well, like 100.

TAL: Why wouldn't she just make the house out of bricks like everyone else?

Child 5: Because no one doesn't have brick teeth.

Walking a Tightrope

Having conversations with children about difficult topics is something we rarely plan for because they usually come up when we least expect it. The best we can do is break it down in a way so children can understand. The following is an excerpt of one such conversation between a father and his daughter, courtesy of This American Life.

Well, it all began at Christmas two years ago when my daughter was four-years-old. And it was the first time that she had ever asked about what did this holiday mean. And so I explained to her that this was celebrating the birth of Jesus. And she wanted to know more about that, and we went out and bought a kid's Bible and had these readings at night. She loved them-- wanted to know everything about Jesus.

So we read a lot about his birth and about his teaching. And she would ask constantly what that phrase was. And I would explain to her that it was, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And we would talk about those old words and what that all meant.

And then one day we were driving past a big church, and out front was an enormous crucifix. She said, who is that? And I guess I'd never really told that part of the story, so I had to sort of, yeah, well, that's Jesus, and I forgot to tell you the ending. Yeah. Well, you know, he ran afoul of the Roman government. This message that he had was so radical and unnerving to the prevailing authorities of the time that they had to kill him. They came to the conclusion that he would have to die. That message was too troublesome.

It was about a month later after that Christmas. We'd gone through the whole story of what Christmas meant. It was mid-January, and her preschool celebrates the same holidays as the local schools, so on Martin Luther King Day, I knocked off work that day and I decided we'd play, and I take her out to lunch. And we were sitting there and right on the table where we happened to plop down was the art section of the local newspaper.

And there, big as life, was a huge drawing by like a 10-year-old kid from the local schools of Martin Luther King. And she said, who's that? And I said, well, as it happens, that's Martin Luther King, and he's why you're not in school today. So we're celebrating his birthday. This is the day we celebrate his life. And she said, so who was he? I said, well, he was a preacher. And she looks up at me and goes, for Jesus? And I said yeah. Yeah, actually he was, but there was another thing that he was really famous for, which is that he had a message.

And you're trying to say this to a four-year-old. This is the first time they ever hear anything so you're just very careful about how you phrase everything. So I said, well, yeah, he was a preacher and he had a message. She said, what was his message? And I said, he said that you should treat everybody the same no matter what they look like. She thought about that for a minute, and she said, well, that's what Jesus said.

And I said, yeah, I guess it is. You know, I never thought of it that way, but yeah. And that is sort of like do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And she thought for a minute and looked at me and said, did they kill him, too?

When Kids Do The Unexpected

Despite the subject of this video, I am not a fan of talent shows that highlight kids with big voices. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure these kids are all very talented, but let's face it, as amazing as their voices are, after awhile they all begin to sound the same. Well, everyone but Courtney Hadwin. Winner of the "Golden Buzzer Award" during auditions for America's Got Talent, she not only wowed the panel and the audience, she exploded the internet with her performance. Love her style, or not, she's an original. Awkward, authentic, and channeling another place and time while performing, she's absolutely mesmerizing to watch.