Parents as wisdom filters

It is sometimes said that children are the effortless, unencumbered philosophers that we wish we could be, delivering queries on free will, consciousness and the nature of time. But I have discovered their secret. For every intellectual jewel there’s a tonne of rubble to sift through: “Why do I have to wear trousers?”, “Are we there yet?”, “Would you like to eat my smelly socks?”. If children produce nuggets of wisdom, it is because parents are panning for gold.