Trying to Look Smart in Front of My Kids

One of the hard parts of being a mom is answering any and all questions that come our way.
Sometimes I have the answers, sometimes I don't.
And as my children get older, the questions get harder.

My 15-year old is now in pre-calculus, which is as far as I got in math, 
so this might be the last year I can help him with anything in that subject.
A couple of days ago, he had a question on his homework that he asked for my help. 
It went something like this:

Identify which one of the following functions as decreasing

a. outdoor temperature as a function of time
b. air pressure in earth's atmosphere as a function of altitude
c. water pressure in the ocean as a function of depth
d. The Dow Jones as a function of time

I was stumped. 
I wanted to impress him with the correct answer right off the bat, 
but that didn't happen.
I turned to google.
(the correct answer was b.)

My brain capacity as a function of time: increasing or decreasing? 
(don't answer that!)


In the car this morning, I was telling my 10-year-old son about the civil war in Libya 
and how the U.S. Ambassador was killed there.
 
He asked, "What's an ambassador?"
I said, "It's a person from our country that goes to their country and lives there and does government things. And you know, makes friends there and represents our country."

His next question, "Where is Libya?"
Crap. Geography was not my strong point.
I said, "I think it's in Africa somewhere."

Then he asked me, "When was our Civil War?"
Huh.
I knew I should have paid more attention to dates in history, 
if anything so I could look smart in front of my kids.
I decided to bluff it.
"I think it was around 1860 or so."

When I got to work, I googled it.
Libya is in northern Africa.
The American Civil War was from 1861-1865.

Score!