begins:

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle light.

To him this meant that in winter, after going to bed, _at
night_, one must get up and dress. It is very likely many
children who have had this delightful poem read to them have
interpreted it in the same way, but probably very few parents have
taken the pains to trace their children's unaccountable
"misbehavior" at bedtime to such a source.

This same poem produced in another child quite a different train of
reasoning, for "Why did the little girl get up at night and sleep in
the daytime?" he asked, "Was she a trained nurse?" It then became
necessary to recall that an aunt of the child's, who _was_ a
trained nurse, often slept at home during the day, after having
worked with some patient at night.

There is no doubt that many of the crotchets and "perversities" of a
child have their origin in chains of reasoning that are perfectly
legitimate, in view of the past experiences of the young mind,
although not in harmony with the reasoning of more mature minds. The
parent spends much time and energy, and much heartburning,
sometimes, to overcome these whims. What is needed is a patient and
sympathetic attempt to discover how the child has come to his queer
ideas and desires.

The annoyance that children cause us with their questionings is due
very largely to the fact that we cannot answer their questions,