Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: Parents
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question asks you to identify what a child must have had, in the sense of what is logically necessary for a child to exist as a human being. Several options refer to common aspects of childhood, such as toys, friends and education. One option refers to parents. The challenge is to distinguish between things that are typical in many children's lives and the single factor that is absolutely required for any human child to exist.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
Every human child, by definition, is born to parents. These may be known or unknown, living or deceased, but there must have been biological parents for the child to exist at all. Toys, friends and education are important for development and happiness, but a child can exist without any of these. Some children grow up in extreme poverty without toys, some may be isolated and have few or no friends, and some may tragically lack access to formal education. Parents, however, are biologically necessary at conception and birth.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Consider toys. Many children enjoy toys, but it is possible for a child to have grown up in circumstances where toys were never available.
Step 2: Consider friends. Although social relationships are important, a child may have very few friends or temporarily none, especially in remote or difficult environments.
Step 3: Consider education. Education is valuable and often considered a right, but some children unfortunately receive little or no formal education. They are still children.
Step 4: Consider parents. By basic biology, a child must have had a mother and a father, even if one or both are absent later in life. Without parents, there is no birth.
Step 5: Recognise that parents are the only option that is logically necessary for a child to have existed at all.
Verification / Alternative check:
Think about extreme cases. A child in a war zone or an orphanage may lack toys, close friends and formal schooling, yet is clearly a child. However, it is impossible to imagine any human child without having had parents at the time of conception and birth. The legal and social status of parents can differ, but the biological fact remains. This thought experiment confirms that among the options, parents is the only truly indispensable element.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Toys are common but not essential; many children grow up without them.
Friends are important for emotional development, yet some children may be isolated without losing their status as children.
Education is a social good and a right but not a logical precondition for being a child. Some children receive education late or not at all.
Common Pitfalls:
Some candidates answer based on ideal images of childhood, imagining that a normal childhood must include toys, friends and schooling. Reasoning questions like this focus instead on logical necessity, not on ideals. Always ask: without which of these could the person still be a child? This frame of thinking makes it clear that parents are necessary, while other aspects, though desirable, are not strictly required.
Final Answer:
A child must have had parents.
Discussion & Comments