Andrey D. (ILE) about explanations

… my mother agreed with me on everything. Not only did she agree—she openly played along. For example, I found a cartoon about horse racing. One of the “horses” was actually two people in a horse costume. Then these people climb out of the costume and collect the prize money for first place—they had outrun all the real horses. I ask my mom: “Mom, what’s going on in this picture?” She starts explaining something, something completely of her own. She pretends she doesn’t understand what’s drawn there, and I tell her the whole story about how those two dressed up as a horse. And I triumph, thinking that Mom doesn’t understand it, and Mom says, “Yes, now I understand, you’ve explained everything to me.” I loved that immensely. Now I realize that my mother was playing along with me. Maybe it’s even good to play along with a child in many things.

They’ll grow up and understand everything themselves. The main thing is to teach them to think independently and to explain things simply and clearly to others.