The Kids Are Going Through Phases

My husband and my two girls (four and seven), and I are on vacation. This means we can take the time to enjoy the night sky away from our usually light-polluted skies at home.

Me: “And look, girls! Remember what that moon is called?”

Seven-Year-Old: “Gibbous!”

Me: “That’s right! And at the end of the trip, it should be a…”

Four-Year-Old: “Half?”

Me: “That’s right!”

Four-Year-Old: “How do they know which moons to put out every night?”

I laugh, and am about to provide the scientific answer, but my seven-year-old beats me to it, and has a better answer:

Seven-Year-Old: “They store them in order, but if they get them mixed up, they just check which one they used the day before and use the next one, dummy!”

It hurt me to have to undo that explanation with boring science.