| Some questions are deep, some basic, some scientific and some philosophical, some questions bowl me over and some questions irritate me to no end. As a responsible parent, I try and answer most of their questions with loads and loads of help from Wikipedia and Google. Sometimes it is hard to not be able to answer a 4 year old and sometimes when I do know the answer and I launch into a lecture I realize I have lost them after 40 seconds and they have already moved on to something else like running after each other.
‘Why do children ask why?”
Most experts agree that when children ask questions out of curiosity they are really saying, “That is so interesting, I would like to figure this out myself or with a little bit of help from an adult.” That is why it is more effective to say to a young child, “That is a great question. Why do you think the car has four wheels?” “What an interesting question, can you think of a reason why the ball does not fly away when you throw it into the air? ”
By the way my 4 years olds answer to this question was – It is simple the ball cannot fly away because it does not have wings.
Most experts agree that when children ask questions out of curiosity they are really saying, “That is so interesting, I would like to figure this out myself or with a little bit of help from an adult.” That is why it is more effective to say to a young child, “That is a great question. Why do you think the car has four wheels?” “What an interesting question, can you think of a reason why the ball does not fly away when you throw it into the air? ”
By the way my 4 years olds answer to this question was – It is simple the ball cannot fly away because it does not have wings.
When we ask a question in response to a question from a child we encourage her to think, to explore, to bounce her ideas with us rather than standing on a platform and explaining to her. There is nothing a child loves more than having an adult who is genuinely interested in what they have to say. The dialogue not only helps develop your child’s analytical skills but is also a great foundation for bonding and confidence building. The feeling of having cracked the answer oneself is priceless and goes a long way in building self confidence.
For me as a mother my children’s responses give me a peek into their way of thinking and appreciate the world through their beautiful eyes and minds. I also pause and enjoy this 'status' as long it lasts because I know that at 4 and 7 today they have all these questions to which they seek answers from me but by 14 and 17 they will ALL the ANSWERS and no questions for me. |
