I don’t remember being able to ask the adults in my family questions as a child. I did as I was told, was respectful to the elders and stayed out of trouble which included not being too loud, running around the house and questioning authority. The adults in my family didn’t have the time or emotional energy to deal with the “why’s” that my toddler brain yearn to have answered.
For a while, I thought I didn’t know how to ask good questions. (This includes when I created my summit where I conducted 40+ interviews.) While asking questions is a skill that can definitely be honed, I have found that the more curious we are the better questions we ask. Which means that as a child, not only were my questions shut down but also my curiosity.
Fast forward 30+ years and I am asking why, why why about all the things I am curious about including who we are, why we are the way we are, and creating individual, community, cultural and social change. I feel like all the “why’s” I never asked during childhood are coming to the surface now, and I couldn’t be happier.
When we dig into the topics that excite us and ask the questions we want to ask now as adults, it heals a little part of ourselves and brings forth that curious self that may have been in hiding all these years. Let her know it is safe to come out as there is a whole world to be curious about!
