When you think about kids, it’s not just their seemingly endless reserves of energy, their ninja-like skills in homing in on the most perilous item in any room, or the fact that they can subsist entirely on chicken nuggets and ketchup. There’s also their capacity to surprise us with peculiar developmental quirks.
And sometimes, these surprises can be as startling as they are simple, revealing things we take for granted so much as adults that their absence feels almost surreal. Like, I don’t know, kneecaps? The journey of discovery can hit hard, especially when it dawns on you during a casual family conversation — or, let’s say, a minor existential crisis over your toddler’s walking style. This was precisely the case for one flabbergasted dad, who took to TikTok to share his mind-boggling discovery about children’s anatomy.
The TikToker, known as @shelbanddyl, has been a source of amusement, parenting woes, and now, a viral sensation for his rather late discovery about children’s physiological development. The video featured a bewildering yet hilarious dialogue between him and his wife, where he pointed at their child in shock and declared, “Bro, you ain’t got no kneecaps!” The wife, maintaining the patience only a mother can muster, confirmed this odd truth, “I’m positive.”
The husband’s mind is totally blown. He starts questioning everything he thought he knew about kids and their knees. Can he still ask his Little League team to “take a knee?” Is it disrespectful? Will they just look at him like he’s crazy? The poor guy is spiraling, and honestly, I can’t blame him.
Here’s the deal for those who have been unaware of this fact: Children do indeed have something akin to kneecaps, but they’re made of cartilage and only fully ossify into the bony kneecaps we’re familiar with around the age of 10. This cartilaginous stage allows for more flexibility and growth during those precious, havoc-wreaking toddler years. The fact that kids are running around with cartilage instead of kneecaps is just another reminder that they’re basically indestructible. Have you ever seen a toddler faceplant on the playground and then just get up and keep running like nothing happened? Meanwhile, if I so much as slightly twist my ankle, I’m out of commission for a week.
This revelation might not make it to the scientific journals, but it certainly stirred up a storm on social media, with parents and non-parents alike chuckling and gasping in equal measure. Some were amazed with one user adding, “if my knee caps are 10 years younger than me, why do they feel like they’re 10 years older.” Others shared a knowing nod, but most just enjoyed the comical light in which @shelbanddyl presented his bewilderment.
Parenting is a constant learning curve where you often find yourself knowing less than you assumed. But no matter how much we think we know, there’s always something simple, something fundamentally “childish,” that can still blow our minds.