my 7 year old wants to know what trees think about?

Question

theres no convinsing her that they cant think.every answer i come up with is not believable can anyone please come up with something that will stop her pestering me about it

Answer 1

Kids will always 'pester' their parents with questions. Enjoy it as much as you can, very very soon she will not be asking or telling you anything and you will be the one pestering her with questions.

This is the perfect opportunity for you both to sit under a tree and swap ideas as to what the tree is thinking right now. Listening to her thoughts and theories will allow you into her world for a little while.

Answer 2

Do you really feel pestered by her questioning? Ok, you are the mother. It's easy for me to say you shouldn't. I know, I have two small kids and they come up with weird questions all the time.

But looking closer, I don't think your daughter's reasoning is stupid or silly. It really makes sense to think that trees probably think, even if they don't seem to have a visible brain.

It's certain that they have feelings or sensations. This has been shown by many researchers.

So you could tell her about the plants which wither to death when the gardener goes away. You could tell her about how plants tremble with fear when they realize that someone is approaching them in order to cut them or uproot them. The same must apply to trees.

Yes, tree have these basic feelings, of love and fear (survival). They recognize people. They can "read" their intentions. Perhaps they like to be admired and resent people's indifference.

They probably "know" when they are about to die of old age, and therefore may have feelings of sadness and worry. On the other hand, when they are growing up, they must have feelings of pride about their strength, vigour and health. They probably compare themselves with other trees, and from this may result feelings of superiority or inferiority, or perhaps not, if they are able to accept their own value and see the context rather than the individual.

A feeling is not very far from a thought. The difference is that a thought usually includes words and a feeling not necessarily.

So, why not tell your daughter that trees can feel rather than think? I think she will be satisfied with this compromising answer.

Answer 3

Trees live a very long time, so they think MUCH more slowly than we do. They think about all the things they have seen in their lives, just as we do; they wonder what it would be like to do things that they cannot do - like walk, or fly, or run, or swim. They talk with the grass, or the flowers, or the animals, or the birds on their limbs, or maybe with the bugs that live in their bark and eat their leaves. A good tree wants to be the BEST tree it can be, so that it produces lots of wood, and shade, and leaves, and seeds or fruits or nuts. And when you hear a tree's leaves shaking and rustling, the tree is laughing! I know - some of my best friends are trees!

Answer 4

Trees' , a tree life is one of wonder , they are forever , working out the depth of the water table below so they know how far they have to spread their Roots to get a drink . Each Autumn they try to work out what colour is best for winter , eventually throwing all their leaves to the ground in confusion . Trees talk to one another to , which is why you can hear them creak and groan at night , discussing the local forest gossip . Where does there voice come from? one might ask, from the wind and the birds of course . I could go on for paragraphs about the linguistics of trees but it just gets too involved for the yungins so will "leave", pardon the pun , it at that . Hope your child never looses the little bit of fantasy within us .

Answer 5

go get a copy of the "Giving tree" by Shel Siverstein (unless that is what started this line of questioning) That gives some answers- (tree as mother- only thinks about her "child").
In the interim: here's my list of top ten alternates.
Trees think about:
1. Acorns, seed pods, Fruit
2. Growing as tall as they can as to touch the sky
3. Becoming boats, houses, Christmas trees (check out Anderson's "the Little Fir tree" or books one day
4. The animals sleeping in their branches
5. What color their leaves are turning
6. Their birthdays
7. That cute little tree just across the forrest
8. The weather
9. Termites
10. Woodpeckers

Answer 6

Nice! Tell her that it's a great question. Unfortunately, we don't know the language of trees and therefore can't speak to them. So, we don't really know what they are thinking. But imagine what you might think about if you were a tree. Maybe you're wondering about when it will rain. Or you are grateful for the warmth of the sun and want to feel it on your leaves. Maybe you are thinking about dropping pinecones or acorns. Maybe you want to protect the birds and animals that live in your branches. Maybe you don't really like the bugs that try to dig holes in you. etc. etc.

Her curiousity is marvelous and it's a great pretext for teaching her the wonder of nature around us. It could be fun. Enjoy!

Answer 7

Trees live a long long time, and they have a long long time to think.
So they think very slowly because they have no need to hurry. Also because they live so long they see many things come and go. And they think about these things, and because they think slowly and have so much time to understandand these things, they become wise, more wise than the wisest man who ever lived, because men think too quickly and always believe that they understand something before they have really thought about it. So trees are always happy except when man (who is always trying to be happy but is sometimes very unhappy) comes to chop them down.

Answer 8

Did you try classifications and differences between plants and animals? Ask her where's the mouth, hands,etc of the tree. Show her a picture of a tree and a picture of an animal. And if she still insists, just let her be. Tomorrow will be another day, and she'll take up another subject to ask about.

Answer 9

hm..don't know how far you have gotten into what thinking is and mentioning we have brains and trees don't and whatnot...maybe more of an explanation.
also, if she doesn't except your answer, you could suggest she ask her teacher. Maybe since kids think teachers know everything she would except the teacher's answer.
But also, (and I am not a parent)I'm not so sure this is an age appropriate question. I thought kids at 7 could make a distinction between things that think and things that don't? Something to talk to her teacher about next conference?

Answer 10

It is proved that threes, can understand music and tone, for example it is proved that if you speak all the time harsh with a , or to a tree it doesn't grow much and eventually dies, but if you speak friendly , call them warmly , or play for them music they grow faster, and are green, I personally even sometimes can hear a tree smile and see the happiness in them. some trees even die when the owner dies.

but what they are thinking about must of the time i guess about the surrounding and the life of the people or others around them.