Why?

Kellen is in full on "why" mode and has been so for the past month or so. And Why is a question that can be asked of any explanation and almost always is. Even our best attempts have been foiled - that is until we learned a new technique from a friend.

Our previous best efforts have been to answer "just because" or "Heavenly Father made it that way" or asking "what do you think, Kellen." These are desperate attempts but really do you have any better answers to the original query of why the car's tire was flat and having been through explanations as far-ranging as the basics of the impact of a nail on a tire and up to the complex of the vagaries of vulcanized rubber with steel radials versus a galvanized steel nail and the differences between two-penny and six-penny nails and on to the basic forces to physics?

To each of these he earnestly responds, "because why, daddy?" "Why Heavenly Father make it that way, Daddy" "Daddy what YOU think?"

So yesterday I tried our new technique:
Kellen: "Daddy why there a park here?"
Dad: "Because they thought it would be fun for little boys to play on"
K: "Why they it be fun?"
D: "Well, because little boys like to swing. Do you like to swing?"
K: "Why little boys like to swing?"
D: "Because its fun and you can go fast. Do you like to swing?"
K: "Why you go fast Daddy?"
D: "Well because I'm big and I can push you in the air and the combined force of the gravity pulling you back to the earth and tension of the chains on the swings cause you to move in an arc like motion that when I act upon it with my mass causes acceleration that is significantly greater than the friction of the air or of the friction of the chains on the swing's structure."
K: "Why gravy pull you back Daddy?"
[and this is where the new technique comes in] D: "because the car won't start"

That really caused his head to churn. I almost laughed out loud with glee that I had cold-cocked the questions with a notion that was so out of place and incongruous that it short circuited the logical process in his little brain.

We walked on towards the play area in blissful silence.

Well, at least for another minute we did.

As we reached the edge of the bark chips, Kellen asked, "Daddy, why car won't start?"