What Does It Mean To Be Free?

I recently discovered that having kids makes you smarter! They make you think (and often times: rethink) everything! My boys' endless litany of who, what, why, when, where and how inquiries leave me stumped on a daily basis. Not necessarily because I don't know the answer (although that's happened a time or two!), but mainly because the answer I give is molding their first impressions of life. So, with such an important building block at stake, I take seriously every little question. 

This weekend's questions were of course about the Fourth of July celebrations going on all around us. The barrage of inquiries started with "Why are people making fireworks?" and became increasingly more difficult. Finally, Wil asked, "What does it mean to be a free?"

Oh, boy! A concept question—a level 10 on the parent difficulty scale. I needed help, so after checking in with my pal Google, I did my best to explain freedom and why we were celebrating the birthday of our incredible nation. Wil seemed satisfied enough for the time being, so we moved on to ice cream.  After one bite, he asked, "Why is ice cream cold?" 

Hmm...a science question—let's go find Daddy!