With no preface, a young child asked me the following series of questions:

“Dog or boat?” (boat)
“Dog or cat?” (dog)
“Cat or flower?” (flower)
“Flower or boat?” (boat)
“Dog or flower?” (dog)
“Boat or dog?” (You asked me that already. Dog, this time.)

I still have no clue about the survey’s purpose, but I was glad to participate.

Sometimes — often with children — it’s a game of improvisation. A posture of saying “yes, and …” and going with the flow.

Suspending judgement allows us to play, and we need more play.

Less, “Wait, but why?” and more, “Sure, I’ll join in.”

Curiously: when interacting with adults, sometimes the opposite advice is appropriate.