Never Bored

June 12, 2025

This past week, I was driving with some friends and colleagues through the mountains of Alaska, heading from Anchorage to Whittier on a day trip right before a conference. The car was filled not only with lovely people, but with lots of questions.

"I wonder what tints that water that grayish-blue?"
"I wonder why this area is called Alyeska?"
"I wonder if that flower is a cousin of the Texas bluebonnet?"
"I wonder when the bore tide comes in?"
"What's a bore tide?"

We rarely knew the answers. Someone would look it up, someone else would read it aloud, and we’d all learn something about the world. After one particularly curious exchange, my friend Dawn remarked, “I just love being in a car packed with scientists!” Technically, we weren't all scientists, but we knew what Dawn meant: It had nothing to do with whether we had the answers; it was because we had the questions.

Among adults, this kind of wonder about... well, everything,... can be rare. But among kids, it’s everywhere. One of the joys of being around children is their natural instinct to ask “why?” and “how?”—a hundred times a day. But somewhere along the way, many adults lose that spark. Maybe we’re too busy. Maybe we’re afraid of looking foolish. But that wondering spirit is something we need to preserve and model.

We live in a time when answers are literally in our pockets. But the real gift we can give kids is not just the information—it’s showing them that questions matter. That not knowing is fine, and that wondering leads to learning. So if you want to keep your kids curious, be curious yourself. Ask the questions. Look things up together. Wonder out loud. Be a scientist.

After all, scientists are really just big kids who never stopped asking why.

—Deb