Parenting during the why phase.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein

Have you been in a situation where your child is asking a question and you failed to give an answer? This might have often happened as we see our little ones asking too many questions and that too one after the other. This is because they are very curious and they want to know everything. To answer them, parents need to concentrate and be patient, which many of them fail to do. Thus, children are left unanswered. 

But there are ways to tackle this situation. Kids are curious and they will ask questions no matter what. It’s the parents who need to find ways to do this. It is good to answer your child. If he is asking something rather than just avoiding him, it is better you answer. If you don’t know the answer, you should not hesitate to accept the fact that you don’t know. In such cases, don’t answer them immediately, just let them know that you’ll find out and get back to them. One way to handle this is to find the answer together. If you don’t know any answer you could quickly take up an encyclopedia and begin to find the answer along with your child. This will develop reading habits in them and enhance their knowledge too. 

Children ask questions and they may ask anything. Sometimes it could be the most irrelevant question. To answer them there are few books that contain answers to their questions.  One such book is Pegasus’s First Questions and Answers. The series contains four books- Nature, Human Body, Things at home, Animals and Birds. There are multiple questions based on each theme. You could bring this book for your little one. They would enjoy reading these books and learn at the same time.

We as parents should take pride in nurturing a curious mind and inculcating the habit of asking questions without any hesitation as asking questions require courage. Not everyone has that courage and if your child has that courage. Do not stop them. Rather we must welcome their questions. Because avoiding them and not answering them would only discourage and dishearten them. 

 Thus, you should encourage your child to ask questions whenever possible because this fosters their natural curiosity and independence. One must be an active participant while answering questions and conversing with his child. Certain things need to be kept in mind like being at their level, making eye contact with them, showing genuine interest with tone of voice and non- verbal cues.