Bean Blog

Ever been around a kid that just keeps asking the question “Why?” – You give an answer… and the kid asks anew, “Why?”. Rinse and repeat. But why? Do they really want to know?

I have two young daughters, one turning 6 in March and the other turning 4 in January. While that is the limit of my direct parenting knowledge, I suspect that my case isn’t terribly different from other people with similarly-aged kids: they want a lot of time and attention, they can be angels or devils, they sometimes want to do every single thing by themselves – even if they really can’t – and they ask “Why?” a lot.

I’ve always taken the route of trying to explain, in clear and truthful terms, anything they ask about (within the bounds of good taste, etc, of course!). So if they want to know how it can be day in our hometown but night somewhere else, I take them to our globe and shine a flashlight on it to explain.

It’s been my experience that the more accurate and clear my answers are, the more they are actually satisfied. And when they have an answer that satisfies them, the “Why?”s stop. Until the next issue comes up, that is.

Well, that’s just my experience. But it seems like some new research is backing me up on this. Research at the University of Hawaii (remind me again of why I did not choose this for my college?) found that kids as young as 2 years old reacted in different ways depending on what type of explanation they were given.

So next time, take a moment and give a real answer. You just might make the kid’s day. And yours.

http://earlyed.newamerica.net/blogposts/2009/why_ask_why_a_new_report_looks_at_childrens_questions-24154