THE most naturally curious people are kids, and they can have the most awesome questions.

Mine surely have figured out l don’t have a degree in medicine, maths, science, engineering, physics, theology or even technology, but it doesn’t stop them asking.
Parents are continuously getting asked questions and this can be very exhausting, especially when we are expected to have all the answers. Some of the great typical questions are:

• “Why do l have a belly button?”
• “Why have l got freckles?”
• “What happens if you eat tomato seeds, will tomatoes grow inside?”
• “Why can’t l use toothpaste to make my shoes whiter?”
• “Do unicorns live on rainbows?”

l wouldn’t ever want to spoil my daughter’s dream of unicorns and rainbows, so l explain how rainbows appear but also add that it wouldn’t surprise me to find unicorns wherever there’s a rainbow.

l find myself searching Google more than ever and it’s because of the type of questions the kids are hitting me with.

Without making it up, l will sometimes improvise, stretch the truth a little and be very creative with my answers.

My daughter asked me recently: “If kids are always growing, do they shrink a little by the end of the day?”

That one was easy, I deflected it to her science-teacher mum, curious to know the answer myself. Apparently, we do shrink throughout the day. Our true height is first thing in the morning, at the end of the day your spine has been decompressed by gravity.
Our house also turns into a medical practice sometimes; while the kids know l am not a doctor, l am expected to have the cure.

They’re finally in bed, it’s parent time to relax and here come the little footsteps down the stairs, followed by the soft voice that says: “l have a sore finger, it hurts, can you fix it?”.

It’s amazing how the magic of a Sponge Bob Band-Aid will fix everything, plus a kiss to make it better.

Paul Dorin is the “CityNews” cartoonist