I listened to the first three very affecting stories of a PBS radio show, perhaps Radio Lab, about kid logic before I had to leave for work yesterday. The first one was about two 7-year-old friends, whom I will call Ruth and Darcy, and begins when Ruth tells Darcy her father is the Tooth Fairy, which she knew because she woke to find him replacing her tooth with money. Darcy told her mom, who praised their astuteness while pointing out that it was hard for Ronnie to hold a regular job and also be the Tooth Fairy, so Darcy should not tell anyone else. Darcy was quite sophisticated about protecting this celebrity, careful not to trouble him while admiring him silently and letting him know by occasional remarks that she appreciated all he did.

The second story, told by a devout Protestant dad, described introducing his 4-year-old daughter to Jesus in response to her questions about the meaning of Christmas. He started with a child Bible, focusing on Jesus’ writings and works, tying it all to the Golden Rule. She was delighted and eager to hear more. When she asked about a crucifix she saw, he told her about Jesus’ death, explaining that authorities found his teachings to be a threat. Staying home on MLK day, she asked about MLK, and her father explained he was a preacher–she got that Jesus connection right away–and a person who taught that everyone should treat everyone else the same no matter how they looked. She said, That’s a lot like what Jesus said. Did they kill him, too?

The third story was about two I-think 11-years olds, and told in the voice of Paul, an overweight child with few friends who happened to live next door to Tim, a troubled boy with a rich fantasy life and a history of acting out his conversion into a vampire in a way that frightened his classmates, to such an extent that he was in danger of being sent to a special school. Paul was desperately trying to deny his role as “Tim’s only friend” even though he knew Tim well, but ultimately chose to rescue Tim from a tough spot with the school by engaging in Tim’s fantasy world directly, “shooting” him with an antidote tranquilizer combo that changed him from vampire back to boy. While the adults were exhorting him to stop, Tim kept saying I’m not Tim and addressing Paul as Professor. When the adults thanked Paul for his help, he replied, I’m not Paul.

In-between the hosts kept trying to differentiate between kid logic and adult logic, yet as far as I can tell, if there is a difference, it’s that kid logic is superior! The girls’ conclusion about the tooth fairly was based on solid observational evidence. The girl who admired Jesus grasped his teachings extremely well, better than many practicing adult Christians today. By entering Tim’s fantasy world to escort him out, Paul chose the most successful approach possible, and also the kindest.

In fact, these stories made me think that we lose our logic as we age. Is it reasoning that tells us we should have cheap gasoline and food while a war is waging and the climate is changing? (1) I imagine every adult reading this can think of a couple of other examples. Maybe we should all try to recapture the non-rationalizing (2) reasoning of childhood.

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(1) The answer is NO.

(2) I’m using the US definition of rationalize here. The UK definition is quite different.