Tough Questions

After Bronwen's violin recital, we listened to some Sesame Street music (which Bronwen moderately dislikes) on the car ride home. Bronwen heard us chatting in the front seat and wanted to participate. We turned down the music to concentrate on Bronwen's queries. Transcript follows:

Bronwen: What does human mean?
Daddy: It means being a person.
Bronwen: What is a person?
Mama: It means being alive, and eating and breathing and growing, as a person, instead of as another animal such as a dog or tiger, or other living things like grass and trees.
Bronwen: How is grass living?
Daddy: Grass is living because it grows. It eats the nutrients from the soil and from the sun, and it drinks water when it rains. When there’s no water or no sunlight, then the grass turns brown and dies.
Bronwen: Why does it turn brown?
Daddy: Grass turns brown when it doesn’t get enough to eat or drink. The brown color is a sign that it’s not healthy.

[pause]

Bronwen: Why do letters make sounds?
Mama: Because you put the sounds together to make words, so we can communicate with each other.
Bronwen: What sound does a “c” make?
Mama: Sometimes “c” makes a “k” sound, like in “cat” but sometimes it makes a “ss” sound like in “circus.”
Bronwen: What sound do numbers make?
Daddy: Bronwen, numbers don’t make sounds, they help us to count things.

[pause]

Bronwen, resigned: Please put the music back on.