Along the lines of what Uke says, my kids regularly call me a wierdo. My rejoinder is to call them a “wierdo’s kid.”
Since my kids were able to talk, my wife and I always did our best to provide accurate information to any of their questions, whether they asked where babies came from, why the sky is blue, if there is a God, or what happens when someone dies. When we do not know, we tell them as much, and either suggest they look up the answer, or look it up with them. And when the question calls for an opinion, we state as such, and try to explain how and why other people may disagree. Often when their eyes begin to glaze, we catch ourselves and stop blatting on to ask if we have answered their question. A surprising number of conversations grand to a halt before the impentetrable wall of molecular physics (both parents are lawyers with NO practical skills or knowledge.)
We make a concerted effort to have the whole family present for as many sit down dinners as possible. The conversations are the highlight of many of my days.
My high schooler often brings her friends over to share our meal and conversation. Which is cool. It always shocks me to hear from my 16 year old that her friends like coming over to our house - in part - because her parents are so cool. Some of you Dopers have met me. Believe me - if there is something I am not, it is “cool.” But I think the kids just really appreciate having adults who treat them as intelligent individuals with something to offer.
Have you gotten to the point yet that you sense your kid gets along better with your adult friends than she does with kids her age. Some people just make better adults than they do kids. Fortunately for your kid, her best years are ahead of her. As opposed to the playground’s alpha males and females, who will be peaking prior to high school graduation.
BTW – IMO mythology is one of the best things a parent can expose their child to.
It will be a part of their school curriculum through high school at least. And I can think of few subjects of more wide ranging applicability to being an intelligent, informed person. Mythology is relevant to literature from Homer to GB Shaw and beyond, as well as drama and film such as Shaw again (with an assist from Rex Harrison), Disney, Harryhausen, and Woody Allen. Music, astronomy, architecture, geography, vocabulary, religion, history… You’ve already seen how easy it is to go from mythology to cosmology.
Hell, you could probably divine an entire K-12 curriculum solely out of mythology and Seuss.