Awkward & Funny Questions Preteens Ask

We all know that preteens are crazy, weird, unpredictable, have no filter, and most of all are just funny.

I sat in a conference recently and listened to a speaker that talked about some really hilarious things that Christians do.

This got me thinking about some of the funny things preteens say and do.

We have been going through a series in our preteen ministry on wisdom.

We have challenged our preteens to read through the book of proverbs during this series and come back with any questions they may have.

The first question they asked was from Proverbs 2 verse 16: what is an immoral or promiscuous woman?

It wasn’t so much the question that was funny, but the fact that I had to keep the group quiet when a one of the boys tried to explain it before the leaders could.

And while it was funny at the time, it brought to mind an important point.

How do we handle the times when an awkward questions is asked?

I honestly had not thought about it until this happened, and I really wasn’t sure what I was going to say.

Luckily one of our other leaders stepped up and handled it beautifully.

She simply said that they were women that did things that were not honorable to God, and if they felt they needed more clarification then they could ask their mom and dad.

Now I am a firm believer that we should be open in church and not be afraid to talk about anything.

But we also need to respect parents and how they want to explain things to their preteens.

We can certainly be a help in educating their kids and talking to their preteens, but it needs to be on their terms and with their timing.

Another funny thing that a preteen had recently said to me came from my own 11-year-old daughter.

The new Left Behind movie has been a topic of conversation in our house. We heard a radio caller ask a question about it the other day when I was taking her to school.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the movie when everyone goes to heaven all their clothes are left behind, the radio host was asked if there was any scripture about if our clothes go with us?

I began to laugh because I thought,“Does it really matter?”

My preteen daughter looked over at me with this very concerned expression and asked why I was laughing.

I told her it was because when Jesus comes back and we all go to heaven, what we are wearing is not going to matter.

Here is the funny part to me.

She then said, “But what about on the way up to heaven? Will everyone see us without clothes?”

She has heard about when Jesus comes back and all believers going to heaven to be with Him.

But in her preteen brain when we all go to heaven it is not in an instant. We will all be floating up to heaven and be able to see each other on the way.

In her mind, if we didn’t have clothes then everyone would see everyone else naked.

I did laugh about this with her for a moment, but then I took the time to explain to her about when we all go to heaven it will be amazing and there will be no embarrassment or worry about others.

I guess what I am trying to say here are two different things.

We need to be prepared to answer or handle some awkward questions that might make us uncomfortable.

If we are asking our preteens to read God’s word, we need to be prepared to discuss some of the harder topics.

The question about the immoral woman was innocent enough, and afterward I was excited one of my preteens felt comfortable enough to ask it.

It reinforced to me the importance of teaming with our parents better and communicating with them in the spiritual education of their children.

One way we can do that is letting them all know about this great question from one of their kids, how we handled it, and that hopefully their kids would come to them to discuss it later.

Knowing one preteen asked this question, I bet more had the same question.

My other point is this:

When our preteens say or do something that is awkward or funny, we should use it as a teachable moment.

I could have easily just laughed off my daughter’s comment.

But instead, I took the time to explain to her about Revelations and how great it is going be when we are in heaven.

So whether we have our clothes on or not is not going to matter.

I would love to hear about some of the funny things your preteens have done. Go to our Facebook page and share it with us. 

Liked this blog post? Then, you’ll love this one – How to Relate to Preteens

Rob Quinn serves as the Preteen Ministry Coordinator at Community Bible Church in Brighton, MI. He has been involved with preteen ministry for almost 8 years now. Rob is married to an amazing woman Jodi, who just so happens to be the Children’s Ministry Director at his church. They have one beautiful daughter Sydni, and an 8-pound attack dog named Lilly.