little kids just wanna know stuff

I was visiting a summer camp/after school program today (where I will hopefully be working soon) and I got to talk to a lot of little kids about my leg. Usually when I'm working with a new group of kids I'll wear long pants to avoid the distraction, but it was hot today so I went with a skirt. I expected and welcomed their questions. Six-year-olds are the only people who can asked me "What happened to your leg?" and get a friendly response.

Kids tend to want to know the same sorts of things. When I worked at summer camp years ago (holy crap, that was 10 years ago!) I actually made a list of Frequently Asked Questions for that reason. They tend to ask the following:

• What happened? (depending on the age of the asker I give various vague answers that aren't completely true "The muscles in my leg were sick." "Why?" "I don't know, they just were." Or, "I was in an accident...")
• Did it hurt?
• Can you feel this? (poke poke poke)
• Is your foot real? (Umm... no.)
• Will it grow back?
• How do you sleep/shower/swim? 

And the generally want to know how it works and I get to give them a science lesson about robots based on my limited understanding of how my leg actually works. I had one great conversation today that went as follows (These kids were staring and whispering to each other until one of them finally work up the courage to ask me):

Kid: What happened to your leg?

Me: A long time ago I was in an accident and I hurt my leg really bad, so the doctors had to give me a new one.

Kid: That's crazy!

Me: Yeah, I guess it's kinda crazy.

Kid: I like your shoes. 

There was also the little boy who just kept asking "Why?" after every response I gave (he really wanted to know stuff, I guess) and the little girl who kept trying to lift my skirt up to see the rest of my fake leg. It was refreshing when I walked into the classroom with the older kids and all I got was "Oooo, I like her hair!" from a girl. 

And it was all cuter than the drunk guy in a suit near Rittenhouse Square Thursday night who asked, with all the confusion of a child (a drunk child?), "Why are you walking like that?" (He didn't get any response).