Dear Ms. Mabel,

I am 7 years old and really enjoy reading your column with my mom. A lot of times the subjects are about adult stuff. What would you say to a kid? What’s important stuff for me to know?

~ Curious in Coopertown

Well now, look at you — seven years old and already asking better questions than some of the grown people who write to me.

Truth be told, darlin’, I couldn’t cram everything you need to know into one column and still stay under my word limit. Besides, you have a whole lifetime to learn the big stuff, and most of it won’t make sense until you bump into it yourself.

So let’s start with a few little things grown-ups forget nobody has explained to you yet.

Your teacher is an actual person.

She has a home, probably has a family and occasionally has to wander through Walmart buying cereal and toilet paper just like everybody else.

If you see her there, don’t stand six feet away whispering her name like you’ve spotted Bigfoot. Say hello. She already knows who you are. You spend seven hours a day together.

When your parents say, “We’ll see,” the answer is probably no.

It doesn’t always mean no, but it usually means they aren’t ready to listen to you fall apart about it yet.

Asking fourteen more times will not turn it into a yes. It might, however, turn that regular no into an “absolutely not for the rest of your natural life.”

Grown-ups you don’t know should ask other grown-ups for help — not children.

I’m not talking about your mom asking you to match socks or carry in groceries.

I mean a stranger asking you to help find a lost puppy, go somewhere with them, keep a secret or do anything that makes your insides feel funny.

You get away, find your safe grown-up and tell them. You will never be in trouble for protecting yourself.

Nervous and excited can feel almost exactly the same inside your body.

Both can give you butterflies, make your heart beat fast and turn your legs to noodles.

The next time you’re nervous about trying something new, tell your brain, “Maybe I’m excited.”

It won’t make every bit of fear disappear, but sometimes it helps your feet keep moving.

If nobody has told you yet, pickles are actually cucumbers.

One of the funniest moments to observe in a child’s life is the day they learn that pickles are cucumbers and not an entirely different vegetable.

I’m convinced this is some sort of unspoken rite of passage every child must endure.

First comes disbelief. Then suspicion. Then they look at every adult in the room like we’ve all been participating in some kind of produce conspiracy.

Nobody has been lying to you. It honestly never occurred to us that you thought pickles grew on pickle vines.

All right, that’s enough for one sitting. I don’t want to tell you all the secrets and get kicked out of the grown-up club.

For now...

Keep asking good questions, be kind even when nobody is watching, and always tell your mom when something doesn’t feel right.

You don’t have to understand the whole world yet. Most grown-ups are still figuring it out too; we’ve just gotten better at acting like we know what we’re doing.

I’m mighty proud of you for writing to me. I’ll try to remember that kids need a little Mabel wisdom now and then too.

I’ll be praying for you, darlin’.

P.S. Ask your mom what raisins are. I’ve caused enough trouble for one day.

Send your 7-year-old questions & your "grown-up" questions to Ms. Mabel right here.