A lesson on clouds

Sometimes I learn so much about my kids just by listening to their conversations. On the way to soccer practice on Tuesday, Samantha and Megan had a chat about clouds. It had been raining that day and the sky was still very cloudy.

Samantha: Megan, do you know what a cloud is?

Megan: Clouds are pink and orange and yellow.

She is so observant, of course she is talking about how the clouds look during one of our great Arizona sunsets.

Samantha: No, I mean, what is a cloud?

Megan: Clouds at night cover up the moon.

She never forgets anything; last full moon we were outside looking at the clouds moving back and forth across the moon.

Samantha: (increasing frustration) NO!! That's not it!

Me: OK Sammie, she doesn't know the answer. Tell her what it is.

By now I was guessing that Samantha's class had done a lesson on clouds at school and I began searching my brain for the technical answer about clouds/water/evaporation/rain.

Samantha: Megan, you should say, "Clouds are fluffy white things that float in the sky."

Megan: Oh.

So much for the scientific explanation I was expecting!