Minute Mysteries

Have you heard of minute mysteries? My kids go through stages where they love these things. I pretty much always think they're ridiculous because they are so open-ended that anything could be the answer.

Here's an example of a minute-mystery conversation in our house:

Kids: Hey, mom... Bob is a delivery man who is in a hurry. He's coming up on a railroad crossing as the barriers start lowering. He won't make it past before they close, but he doesn't have time to stop. What does he do?

Me: He crashes through the barriers.

Kids: Nope.

Me: How do you know? Were you there?

Kids: That's just not the right answer, mom.

Me: Why not? It makes sense.

Kids: Just keep asking questions and you'll get it.

Me: (exasperated sigh) Does he hit the train?

Kids: No.

Me: See? He crashes through the barriers without hitting the train. I win.

Kids: (rolling eyes) Whatever, mom.

Actually, today I have a few minute mysteries of my own to stump my kids with...

1. As some kids are leaving for school their mother asks them, "Did you make your beds?" "YES!" they all shout in unison, but when the mother goes to check, the beds are unmade. How is this so?

2. A woman puts a load of laundry into the washing machine, carefully checking that all socks have a match before putting them inside. By the time she carries the basket full of clean laundry upstairs, 3 socks are missing. Where are the missing socks?

3. The basement of a family's home has pictures drawn in Sharpie or crayon on every wall. When the parents ask who made these drawings every child responds with, "Not me." There is no one named Not Me living in the house. Who drew on the walls?

4. When a mother asks her kids if they would like a cookie, they all respond immediately. But when she asks if they have finished their homework or if they could help her with the dishes, no one seems to hear her. What is the cause of this phenomenon?

5. While searching for missing car keys beneath her couch cushions, a woman finds a candy bar wrapper, 4 popsicle sticks and some popcorn. No one is allowed to eat in the room where the couch is, so where did these items come from?

I can't wait to hear their answers.




And in case you were still trying to figure it out, Bob was the train driver.