Right now, my 3 1/2 yr old constantly asks “why?” all the time, for EVERYTHING! It’s great that he is curious and that his mind is expanding. However, sometimes I wish he would just stop asking, just for 2 min. Yes, just 2 min of silence!
Recently those innocent “why’s” have turned into asking “why?” to prolong doing things that he doesn’t want to do. For example, when I tell him it’s time to take a nap he starts whining and asks “but why?”. This is not the kind of why that warrants an actual answer because he already knows the answer to this question. It’s not that he wants to gain further knowledge, it’s that he just wants to frustrate me. Normally I say “because it’s time” or “because everyone is tried and needs to take their daily nap”. He then starts to cry and ask “why?” again. Long story short…it goes on like this for a while until I tell him to grab a dinosaur and get up to his bedroom for naptime.
Today, I tried something new! Let me tell you it was genius. Don’t know how it will work for every situation but it’s def something to try. When he asked why it was time for nap I asked him “why do you think it’s time for nap?”. It took him a second because I never throw a question back at him and he said “because it’s time to go for a nap” and that was the end of it!!!! Omg. Why didn’t I do that sooner? No crying. No whining. Just a simple answer to my question, he grabbed his favorite dinosaur and got moving upstairs. Score one for mommy!
Moral of the story…if your toddler is in the stage of asking “why?” all the time, maybe try asking them what they think in return!
The Naptime Grind 