Children’s minds are amazing. As their understanding of the world deepens by the day, the little sponges are constantly soaking up information and knowledge. I wouldn’t want to have a sense of wonder again and an imagination that could keep me entertained for weeks on end. There are a few drawbacks to observing kids’ infinite supply of creativity. They innocently do and say stupid things.
From putting food under their beds to trying to wrap their minds around how babies are made, we have gathered some of the funniest posts from the “Look How Stupid These Kids Are” subreddit proving that the logic of a child does not always hold up in the real world. Enjoy reading these stories and reminiscing on when you were a kid without a care in the world. You can also find an interview with the co-host of The Juggling Act.
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Being a parent is not easy, so it is only fair that a small comedian is given a roommate as well. Everything we have seen and understood for decades is new to children. We stop exercising our curiosity if we don’t fully understand or agree with every facet of society. Kids want to understand the world. There is no such thing as a stupid question because they love asking questions and assume that adults know everything.
The pages like “Look How Stupid These Kids Are” are fun. We were once stupid kids who had to learn everything we know. Nobody emerges from the womb with the ability to tell time or quote Shakespeare. That would be quite frightening. There is nothing wrong with having fun with silly little things that children do that they will find funny ten or fifteen years later.
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We asked the mother of two if she remembered any dumb things she did as a child. “I dropped a doll down the toilet when I was two, and went in after it,” she told us. “My feet got stuck in the u-bend, and instead of my mum getting me out, she went and got the camera. That picture was on the back of our toilet door my whole childhood.”
The dumbest thing she has ever caught her kids doing was asking us. “I caught my kids pulling chilies off the plant and rubbing them on their lips because they thought it was lipstick. That was a fun half-hour…”
We asked why she thinks kids are entertaining. She said, “The innocence and brutal honesty that they approach life with often results in something funny being said or done. They are brilliant at saying the things adults think! They have no concept of consequences yet, which is so often where the LOLs happen (as long as no one loses a limb).”
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Children don’t just wake up one day and understand the logic and think logically. Their development takes a long time and involves many stages. There are 4 main stages to a child’s cognitive development. There are four stages: the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage.
The first stage of cognitive development for a child is called the sensorimotor stage and lasts until they are two years old. This stage involves learning about the world through movements and sensations, as well as basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, listening, and understanding the concept of object permanence. Babies in this stage realize that their actions can affect the world around them and that they are separate from the people and things around them. Babies or toddlers in this stage might not be doing much yet, but don’t worry. They will get there soon.
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The preoperational stage of cognitive development is between the ages of 2 and 7. This is when they begin to use words and images to represent objects. They get better at using language and thinking, but only in concrete terms. In this phase, they are egocentric and have a hard time understanding anyone else’s perspective, but this is a time when kids experiment with “pretend play” and become more skilled at it. The older end of kids in the preoperational stage might be prone to doing stupid things. They are full of curiosity and have learned how to communicate well enough to express their thoughts, so while they can be surprisingly wise for their ages, dumb ideas can also come pouring out of them.
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Kids from ages 7 to 11 are in the operational stage. This is when they begin to understand the concept of conservativism: “that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example”. A child in this phase can start using logic and reasoning from specific information to a general principle as they become more logical and organized. Kids start to imagine how someone else might be feeling, but they still have a hard time grasping concepts. They become more curious about the opinions of others because they understand that their thoughts are unique. Kids in this stage understand a lot, but they still have a long way to go before they are smart.
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The formal operational stage is the final stage of a child’s cognitive development. When kids start to think abstractly and learn how to reason hypothetical problems, this is from the age of 12 up. Kids start to use logic and think about moral, ethical, social, and political issues during this time. As this phase goes on, they tend to do less and less stupid things, but no one is in the clear. Teenagers are famous for having questionable judgment, so if you are a parent, don’t think the idiocy has ended once they reach thirteen.
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Children have to grow up and stop saying stupid things. Let’s hope that they don’t, but some of them might. If you have friends with kids, remember those dumb moments. Feel free to share them on the internet so the rest of us can laugh at them too. Let us know in the comments if you remember dumb things you did as a child, and be sure to upvote your favorite posts.
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