Why?

Jul 16, 2010

One thing I like about my 4 year old attitude is his persistent question of why.

An example. In the morning, I will re-park the car sometimes. He asked why. And I answered that I am doing it so that the driver side rear door does not face the sun as it was involved in an accident and was recently repaired and repainted. And he will say ok.

He asked many other why questions also and I will answer each one in turn. The best gift as a parent to a child is to teach him to ask why and impart to him a rational mind. Sometimes, common sense is not so common and asking why is the first step. And he was the one who started asking why without me prompting him to. And as a parent, I have to be rational in my decision making so that I can set a good example for him.

I explain to him the reason why I do not allow him to do certain things and usually he will listen. Sometimes I will need to repeat the why's again and again until he does what I ask him to. For example, initially he does not like brushing his teeth with the new toothpaste and wants to use the old tooth paste that he could swallow. I have to explain to him again and again that swallowing the tooth paste is not good for him until he transitions to the new toothpaste without complaining. The other example is when he complains about drinking milk. And I have to explain to him again and again that milk is important for him to build strong bones and he is beginning to drink milk with less complaints now. There are other times that he is unreasonable. That is the case usually when he is sleepy or when he is tired.