Why do we stop wondering?

In a recent Washington Post article, Randall Monroe, author of the book, “What If?” says that kids ask the best “What If?” questions. He’s noticed that adults try to create a question “that they think will sound interesting and have an interesting answer.” But kids “just ask actual questions they want to know the answer to.”

For myself, I know I will often assume I know the answer to something so I don’t sound stupid, or maybe more so I don’t feel stupid. Filling in the blanks of my knowledge with educated guesses has become such a habit that I rarely even notice I’m doing it. Until someone challenges me and I realize I’m not standing on a solid foundation of understanding, and maybe feel a little embarrassed that I said something which I’m not sure is really true.

We were all kids once. So what happens to us that we start pretending we know the answers, rather than continuing to ask questions. Why do we stop just wondering about things out of curiosity without pretending we are all-knowing?

And most of all, how can we rebuild our connection to pure curiosity that is honest about what we don’t know, and cares more about learning than how we appear to others? Could we build a habit of questioning ourselves and our assumptions regularly, asking, “Is that true?”

I don’t have any answers, but I am curious!