Chatting with my 5 yr old, I realized that she had a particular resistance to the words “I don’t know.” It was an indication that I had to put something to an end for her, and “I don’t know” if it was fear or something else. I just don’t know. What I knew was, she had to become comfortable.
We started with the concept of asking “why” more. She prides herself heavily in knowing answers, and like most kids, takes a lot of joy in the praises therefore. Once we settled, she quickly asked me, “why is it ok to say I don’t know?” My job was half done, and I was sufficiently pleased with Vasvi. If anything, I told her, “you will never know everything, I don’t know the answers to most questions.” For brevity here, I did explain that “I don’t know” is the beginning of knowledge. There is no end, and when no one knows the answer, you have the intense potential to make meaningful impact. The trick is to know what is already known to get to the limits of available knowledge.
