I was driving car with my four years old son today. On a highway he suddenly asked “Dad, what is a black hole”? I was suprised. As said, my son is four now. I just wonder how did he come up with this question. I have never said anything about the black holes to him, so he must have heard it from a movie or his brother who is 13 years old.

“Hold on, daddy is driving”, I said. I needed few seconds to think about this, because there is a danger if I don’t explain it well. The danger is that he understands black holes too mystique and starts being afraid of them. I needed to explain it to him so that he understands it and will not be afraid of it. Clearly I was in a trouble..

“Well, how did you heard about black holes?”, I asked. “Are they dead stars?”, he replied. Wow, I was impressed! “How do YOU know THAT?”, I continued. “Teo (his brother) has said”, my son replied. That’s it. I found the “guilty” one During the next ten minutes I tried my best in explaining him what is a black hole and where they are. Let me now tell you how our discussion continued. I hope this helps you if you will ever be in a similar situation.

I started by removing the possible fear. I said, “black holes are invisible elements in deep space and we can never see them and they will never come here”. I continued, “a black hole is the next phase in a life of a star. When a star has burned all the gas, it becomes a black hole that is invisible for us”. My son asked me, “what happens when you go into a black hole?”. That was a difficult question. I would like to explain my kids what really is up there, but I also need to make sure they won’t be afraid. Very abstract things can be scary. I needed to give a political answer. “Well, I don’t know exactly. Nobody has been in a black hole because they are so far from here, and therefore we don’t know exactly what would happen”. He was satisfied with my answer. I was afraid that next he would say something like “why even light cannot excape from a black hole”, but he never asked. 

We continued discussing the details, but the summary of the whole discussion was that I explained my young boy that a black hole is an invisible element in deep space, very far from here. A black hole is a star which has burned all the gas and has now “turned of the lights”. It cannot be seen and we will never “meet” a black hole. I wanted him to understand that a black hole is an element in the sky, just like planets and stars, but we just cannot see it. I also wanted to make sure he will not be afraid of black holes by telling him simplified truth. If you ever get into a similar situation, I encourage you to do the same.

Have you had similar experiences? How did you manage that situation? Please leave a comment, I would like to hear it. Was this article interesting or helpful? If yes, you might want to subscribe to my RSS feed or email newsletter. You can find the links to subscribe in the top right sidebar.