This Summer, When Kids Ask Why, Savvy Auntie Has the Answers!
Written By Savvy Auntie Staff Writers
By Alyson Trager
July 24, 2017
Our young nieces and nephews think grownups know everything. We are their Savvy Aunties after all. Still, we have to admit that kids stump us all the time - even with questions that we should know the answers to but haven't thought about ourselves. Part of the reason why is young children notice the details we adults often miss.
To help you out, we’ve anticipated twelve questions your little nieces and nephews may ask you with this summer – and found the answers! Don’t worry; we won’t let them know you had a Savvy Auntie cheat sheet.
1. Auntie, why is it getting darker earlier?
The planet is spinning on a tilt. This means that as the earth revolves around the sun, different parts of the world get more sunlight exposure than others. America is in the northern hemisphere, and during the summer, we are tilted toward the sun.
According to ChildrensMuseum.org. https://www.childrensmuseum.org/blog/why-does-it-get-dark-earlier this results in longer days up until June 21st, which is the summer solstice and first day of summer. After that, days get shorter because we are slowly revolving to a point where we are tilted away from the sun (winter). (To be sure, the days are relatively longer in the summer than in the winter, but after June 21st, the days shorten.)
By the way, if your nieces and nephews have trouble understanding the tilted axis, show them this video designed just for kids!
2. Auntie, why does the sun change the color of my skin?
There is a dark brown to black pigment in your skin called melanin and it's what gives your skin its color. People with darker skin have more melanin, and people with lighter skin have less melanin.
Melanin protects your skin from the sun’s harmful rays When you are out in the sun, your body produces more (and darker) melanin to protect your skin. People with more melanin in their skin turn darker brown, and people with less melanin can turn red with a sunburn. But even people with darker skin who rarely burn need to protect their skin from sun damage. That's why we wear sun protecting suntan lotion.
3. Auntie, why does my sunburn hurt?
Your body is made up of trillions of little cells. Ultraviolet rays can damage your skin cells’ molecules. Sun-damaged cells can’t properly do the job of a normal cell. Instead, neighboring cells flood the skin with inflammatory molecules, resulting in a sunburn. The good news is that this is the first step in healing your damaged skin cells, according to LiveScience.com.
4. Auntie, what is sand made out of?
Sand is made when rain and wind break down big rocks and minerals into smaller pieces. According to LiveScience.com, sand usually comes from feldspar, mica and quartz, and can be many colors including white like the sand on a beach, black, green and pink.
5. Auntie, what are those little crabs on the beach?
Sand crabs – their formal name is Emerita – are the small white-tan/pink crabs that occasionally pop out of the sand. They can be two inches long at their largest, according the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
They are egg-shaped with two antennae popping out their heads with eyes on top. These creatures usually live in the sand, so when they come to the surface, they are eager to dig back down below using their rear claws. Though they are food for many fish, the crabs reproduce in large numbers –one female can lay up to 45,000 eggs at once! The best place to find them is on the part of the beach where the sand it a little wet, usually where the tide washes in.
6. Auntie, how do fish breathe underwater?
Sea creatures need oxygen just like humans. But instead of getting oxygen from the air like we do, fish get the oxygen from water. Fish have special organs called gills and breathe by taking water into its mouth and then pushing it out through the gills. By doing this, fish has separate the oxygen from the water.
7. Auntie, are you sure there won't be any fish or sharks in the pool?
Pools are man-made structures, so sea creatures cannot be in the pool unless put there by a human. Fish and other sea creatures exist in nature, which means they live in oceans, rivers, streams, lakes, etc.- not swimming pools.
8. Auntie, why do grownups say it feels sticky out?
The stickiness people feel is called humidity. The hotter the air is, the more water vapor it can hold. This hot water vapor is humidity.
When it is very humid outside, it means there is a lot of moisture in the air. When you get hot and sweaty, it means that the air cannot absorb the moisture on your body. This results in a sticky feeling.
9. Auntie, why are there waves in the ocean?
The National Ocean Service says wind is the most common cause of waves. And if the wind is very strong, there will be big waves. The sun and moon can also cause waves; when they are closer to the earth, their gravitational pull increases and pulls on the water. These kinds of waves are called tides.
10. Auntie, what are thunder and lightning?
During a storm, lightning is a brief flash of electricity. NASA says this is caused by little bits of ice crashing together up in the clouds. These collisions create an electric charge. It's like when rub your feet on the carpet and then touch a metal doorknob. That little shock is a small-scale version of the electricity created in a thunderstorm.
Thunder, on the other hand, is merely an effect of lightning. When lightning strikes, it creates a small hole in the air. Thunder is the sound created when this hole closes back up. These two things occur at the same time, but here’s the cool thing - the speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound so that’s why we see lightning first, and then we hear the thunder.
11. Auntie, why do the birds fly back from the south?
When the birds migrate south for the winter, they are doing so to because cold weather makes food hard to find, and it takes more energy for the birds to keep warm. And when spring comes, the birds being to fly back home to the north. Tufts Journal says that birds time their trip back north with the explosion of food, like seeds and fruits, that comes with spring and summer. And since the days are relatively longer in the north than the south during the summer, birds can gather food more easily.
12. Auntie, how do they make ice cream?
Ice cream is made with milk or cream and sugar. This mixture is churned while being frozen to produce a cold, creamy dessert!
It’s been a long summer of tough questions so here are some recipes to make some ice cream of your own to share with your very curious nieces and nephews!
Photo: Dimj